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From  Hurst's  History 
of  Methodism. 


PAINTED   BY  J.   JACKSON,    H.A. 

The  Rev.  John  Wesley,  M.A. 


By  permission 
ot  Euon  J:  .Mains. 


17O3.  19O3. 

THE 

BI-CENTENARY 
CELEBRATION 

IN 

SAVANNAH,  GA. 


"Wesley's"  Only    .American. 
Home. 


June  25-29,  19O3. 


SAVANNAH,  GA. : 

THE  SAVANNAH  MORNING  NEWS  PRINT 
1903. 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  this  volume  is  presented  in  permanent  form  the  ex- 
ercises in  Savannah,  Ga.,  of  the  celebration  of  the  2OOth  an- 
niversary of  the  birth  of  John  Wesley. 

This  celebration  is  of  peculiar  interest  as  Savannah  was 
the  only  home  of  Wesley  on  the  American  continent. 

The  following  is  the  calendar  of  his  movements  in  America. 

Tuesday,  Oct.  I4th,  1735,  embarks  for  Georgia  accom- 
panied with  Mr.  Benjamin  Ingham,  Mr.  Charles  Delamotte 
and  Mr.  Charles  Wesley. 

Thursday,  Feb.  5th,  1736,  anchors  in  Savannah  River  near 
Tybee. 

Friday,  Feb.  6th,  1736,  landed  on  Cockspur  Island,  on 
which  Fort  Pulaski  is  located,  and  conducted  divine  services. 

Thursday  Feb.  I9th,  1736.  Pays  first  visit  to  Yamacraw 
and  Savannah. 

Sunday,  March  7th,  1736,  preached  first  sermon  in  a  rude 
hut,  used  for  Court  House,  which  stood  in  the  northeast 
corner  of  Bull  street,  and  Bay  street  lane.  Text,  I  Cor.,  xiii. 

Monday,  March  I5th,  1736,  moved  into  the  ministers' 
house,  which  stood  on  the  parsonage  lot  between  Drayton 
and  Congress  streets.  Here  he  fixes  2nd  rise  of  Methodism. 

Tuesday,  March  3Oth,  1736.  Makes  first  visit  to  Frede- 
rica. 

Sunday,  May  9th,  1736,  moved  his  services  into  the  new- 
ly erected  Court  House ;  a  large  and  convenient  place,  where 
the  new  marble  Court  House  now  stands. 

Monday,  July  26th,  1736,  begins  his  first  journey  to 
Charleston,  S.  C. 

Monday,  Aug.  ist,  1737.  Visits  New  Ebenezer,  Saltz- 
berger's  church  and  village. 

Friday,  Dec.  2nd,  1737.  Left  Savannah  on  his  way  back 
to  England. 

Thursday,  Dec.  22,  1737.  Embarked  from  Charleston  for 
England. 

Wednesday,  Feb.  ist,  1738,  landed  at  Deal,  Eng.,  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  landing  of  Oglethorpe  in  Savannah,  hav- 
ing spent  two  years  and  almost  five  month  =  »way  from  his 
native  land. 


METHODISM  IN  SAVANNAH. 


In  1790  the  name  of  "Savannah  Town"  appears  for  the 
first  time  in  the  minutes  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  Hope  Hull  is  assigned  as  preacher.  Ten  years  before 
this  the  conference  had  taken  strong  anti-slavery  grounds, 
declaring  it  "contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  man  and  nature, 
and  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  conscience  and  pure  religion." 

Owing  to  these  sentiments  and  a  lingering  prejudice 
against  Mr.  Wesley,  Hope  Hull  met  violent  opposition  upon 
his  arrival  here.  Mobs  were  formed  and  the  violence  be- 
came such  that  he  left  the  city. 

In  1791  Hezekiah  Arnold,  1792,  John  Bonner,  and  1793 
Hope  Hull,  were  appointed  to  "Savannah  Circuit,"  cover- 
ing a  large  territory,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  any  of  these 
men  preached  in  Savannah  during  that  time. 

The  name,  "Savannah  Circuit,"  then  disappears  from  the 
minutes  until  1796,  when  it  appears  as  "Burke  and  Savan- 
nah," with  Jonathan  Jackson,  and  Josiah  Randall  as  the 
preachers,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  they  ever  tried  to  preach 
here. 

The  appointment  disappears  from  the  minutes  until  the 
year  1800,  (when  Savannah  and  St.  Mary's  are  coupled  to- 
gether, and  John  Garwin  sent  as  preacher.  At  the  end  of 
that  year  Garwin  reported  fourteen  members  at  St:  Mary's, 
but  none  for  Savannah,  so  it  was  again  dropped  from  the  list 
of  appointments  as  an  unpromising  field. 

In  1806,  at  the  session  of  the  South  Carolina  conference, 
of  which  Georgia  formed  a  part,  Bishop  Asbury  called  for 
a  volunteer  from  among  the  preachers  to  take  charge  of 
this  appointment.  Samuel  Dunwoody,  a  young  and  ardent 
man  responded  to  the  call  and  was  assigned  to  this  place 
for  the  year  1807.  He  taught  school  for  a  support,  and 
preached  at  the  alms  house,  and  the  hospital,  the  immates 
being  able  neither  to  persecute  nor  to  run  from  him,  he  held 
his  ground  and  his  congregation.  He  tried  to  preach  to 
others,  but  his  ministry  was  confined  almost  exclusively  to 
his  pupils  and  the  family  where  he  boarded. 

This  year  he  had  a  visit  from  Jesse  Lee,  who  planted 
Methodism  in  the  New  England  states,  and  carried  it  over 
the  line,  into  Canada,  but  who  was  now  on  the  Sparta  Cir- 
cuit. In  his  journal  of  April  19,  1807,  Lee  says  "at  night, 


8  WFSLEY  SI-CENTENARY, 

at  Mr.  Myers',  I  preached.  I  had  a  crowded  house  and 
many  were  forced  to  remain  out  of  doors.  It  was  a  good 
time  to  many  souls."  A  class  of  three  was  formed  from 
those  who  had  been  Methodists  elsewhere,  and  at  conference 
five  whites  and  seven  negroes  were  reported  as  members. 
Whether  the  other  two  whites  and  the  negroes  were  con- 
verts here,  or  seed  corn  borrowed  from  elsewhere,  I  have 
no  means  of  ascertaining. 

In  the  northwest  corner  of  Colonial  Park,  about  sixty 
yards  from  Oglethorpe  avenue,  and  half  that  distance  from 
Abercorn  street,  is  the  grave  of  Mrs.  Jane  Dennis  Wilson, 
who  died  in  1847.  On  it  is  inscribed  "One  of  the  three  that 
constituted  the  first-class  meeting  in  1812."  This  date  is 
evidently  wrong,  doubtless  being  confused  with  the  date  of 
the  erection  of  the  first  church.  It  should  be  1807.  Mrs. 
Wilson  was  the  grandmother  of  Mrs.  W.  A.  Jaudon  of  this 
city. 

In  1808  James  H.  Millard  was  the  preacher.  He  lost  one 
member  and  gained  none.  In  1809  Savannah  was  joined 
to  the  Augusta  and  Louisville  Circuit,  with  John  McVean 
as  preacher.  In  1810  McVean  was  sent  to  Savannah,  and 
reported  that  year  nine  white  and  seven  colored  members, 
which  looked  like  some  advancement;  but  in  1811  Urban 
Cooper  came  as  preacher,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  re- 
ported but  three  white  and  two  negroes,  a  total  of  five  mem- 
bers, alter  nearly  twenty  years'  work — a  poorer  result  than 
is  obtained  from  the  mission  fields  of  China.  A  fact  that 
some  might  note  with  profit. 

During  these  years  there  is  no  evidence  as  to  where  the 
services  were  held,  further  than  an  occasional  reference  in 
some  private  journal  about  preaching  in  a  private  house. 

On  Dec.  31,  1799,  the  City  Council  gave  deeds  to  lots  to 
several  denominations,  among  them  the  lot  east  of  Haber- 
sham  street  and  between  State  and  President  streets,  was 
granted  to  some  of  Hammett's  followers,  known  as  Primitive 
Methodists.  They  built  a  church  on  it,  but  soon  afterward 
disbanding,  the  trustees  sought  to  vest  it  in  their  preacher, 
Rev.  Adam  Cloud,  who  built  a  residence  on  a  portion  of 
the  lot. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  having  been  organized 
in  1807,  on  April  13  of  that  year,  the  members  petitioned 
Council  to  require  Cloud  to  turn  the  property  over  to  them. 
The  council  decided  that  as  the  Primitive  Methodist  Church 
here  was  dead  that  Cloud  had  no  title  and  so  ordered  him 
to  turn  the  property  over  to  the  trustees  of  the  Methodist 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 


Episcopal  Church.  As  Cloud  resisted  this,  the  Council,  to 
save  the  congregation  further  trouble,  recognized  their  trus- 
tees, John  Millen,  George  Harrel  and  Ebenezer  Starke,  as 
the  lawful  owners,  and  gave  them  a  deed  to  the  lot  on  the 
northeast  corner  of  Lincoln  street  and  Oglethorpe  avenue, 
in  exchange  for  a  deed  to  lot  on  which  Cloud  lived.  After 
much  trouble  Council  succeeded  in  ejecting  Cloud,  and  re- 
gaining the  property. 

In  1812  James  Russell  came  as  preacher,  and  having  gqt- 
ten  aid  from  abroad  began  the  erection  of  a  house  of  wor- 
ship. He  was  returned  in  1813,  when  the  building  was 
completed,  and  dedicated  by  Bishop  Asbury,  on  Sunday, 
Nov.  21,  1813.  This  church  was  called  Wesley  Chapel.  As- 
bury, in  his  journal,  says :  "I  preached  twice  in  the  Wesley 
Chapel.  This  is  a  good,  neat  house,  sixty  feet  by  forty. 
Our  chapel  cost  $5,000;  others  would  have  made  it  cost 
twice  as  much  perhaps.  We  are  indebted  to  Myers  and 
Russell  for  much  of  this  saving."  At  the  end  of  this  year 
there  were  thirty  white  and  thirty-five  negro  members. 

The  Myers  mentioned  above  was  Rev.  Lewis  Myers,  who 
was  presiding  elder  and  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
South  Carolina  Conference.  Of  James  Russell,  Bishop  An- 
drew says :  "He  possessed  the  power  of  persuasion  beyond 
any  preacher  I  ever  heard.  Thousands  were  converted 
under  his  ministry.  He  was  a  very  extraordinary  man.  He 
was  stationed  in  Savannah,  where  the  flock  was  unable  to 
support  him  and  he  threw  himself  upon  his  own  exer- 
tions for  support.  This  was  the  first  step  of  entanglement 
in  worldly  traffic  that  resulted  in  his  ruin.  He  failed  to 
meet  his  engagements,  and  received  the  severity  of  a  judg- 
ment without  charity."  Because  of  this  he  located.  Of  his 
death,  Andrew  says :  "His  sun  shone  clear  at  its  setting,  and 
went  down  without  a  remaining  cloud.  His  name  has  come 
down  to  the  present  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men 
of  his  time." 

In  1818  Solomon  Bryan  was  the  preacher,  and  in  1819-20 
William  Capers,  afterwards  elected  Bishop.  He  was  the 
father  of  Bishop  Capers  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  During 
these  years  the  membership  averaged  about  forty  whites 
and  perhaps  twice  as  many  negroes. 

In  1821  under  John  Howard,  the  great  grandfather  of 
Dr.  J.  G.  Jarrell  of  this  city,  there  was  a  revival  that  raised 
the  membership  of  the  church  to  143  whites  and  174  negroes. 

In  1822-23  the  preacher  was  James  O.  Andrew,  after- 
ward elected  bishop  of  whom  there  is  now  one  son  and  two 


10  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

grandsons  in  the  ministry.  During  his  first  year  George 
White  was  his  assistant  and  during  the  second  E.  J.  Fitzger- 
ald. In  1824  Thomas  L.Wynn  was  in  charge  of  the  church. 
He  was  the  father  of  Rev.  A.  M.  Wynn  and  the  grandfather 
of  Mrs.  S.  B.  Adams  of  Savannah. 

In  1825  came  George  Hill,  and  in  1826  Charles  Hardy. 
At  the  end  of  this  year  the  church  had  only  ninety-two 
white  members. 

Elijah  Sinclair  was'  in  charge  of  affairs  in  1827-28.  During 
his  ministry  there  was  another  revival  that  raised  the  mem- 
bership to  183  whites  and  270  negroes.  In  1829  came  Bond 
English,  1830  Benjamin  Pope  and  in  1831  I.  A.  Few,  the 
first  president  of  Emory  College.  In  1832  Elijah  Sinclair 
came  again,  and  with  him  another  revival  that  raised  the 
membership,  which  had  fallen  off,  to  305  whites  and  an  al- 
most equal  number  of  negroes. 

In  1833  came  George  F.  Pierce,  afterward  a  bishop  and 
at  the  time  the  greatest  orator  in  the  Southern  pulpit.  Geor- 
gia has  never  produced  a  greater  orator  than  he. 

William  Capers  came  again  in  1834,  and  in  1835  came 
Alexander  Speer,  father  of  Rev.  E.  W.  Speer  and  grandfather 
of  Judge  Emory  Speer.  Alexander  Speer  had  been  Secretary 
of  State  in  South  Carolina  before  entering  the  ministry. 

In  1836-37  James  E.  Evans  was  the  minister,  1838-39 
James  Sewel,  and  1840  I.  A.  Few  again.  H.  M.  White  was 
his  assistant.  In  1841  came  J.  E.  Evans  and  E.  H.  Myers, 
father  of  Rev.  H.  P.  Myers  of  the  South  Georgia  Conference, 
and  in  1842  J.  E.  Evans  and  J.  B.  Jackson.  In  1843  Daniel 
Curry  was  preacher,  and  in  1844  Josiah  Lewis,  father  of  Rev. 
Walker  Lewis.  In  1845-46  came  Caleb  W.  Key,  father  of 
Bishop  Key. 

Alford  T.  Mann,  under  whose  ministry  was  begun  the 
building  of  a  new  church,  came  in  1847-48.  The  congrega- 
tion had  outgrown  its  old  home,  although  twenty  feet  had 
been  added  to  it,  and  a  Sunday-school  room  had  been  built, 
fronting  on  Oglethorpe  avenue,  in  the  block  west  of  the 
church,  better  and  more  convenient  quarters  were  needed. 
Therefore  Asa  Holt,  Mordecai  Sheftall,  Seaborn  Goodall 
and  Robert  D.  Walker,  trustees  of  Wesley  Chapel,  bought 
the  site  on  which  Trinity  Church  now  stands,  and  the  cor- 
nerstone was  laid  Feb.  I4th  1848. 

1849-50,  J.  E.  Evans  came  for  the  third  time  as  pastor. 
In  the  latter  year  the  church  was  completed  and  called 
Trinity.  Wesley  Chapel  was  closed  and  the  entire  mem- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENABY.  11 

bership  moved  into  the  new  building,  which  was  dedicated 
by  Rev.  A.  T.  Mann,  Feb.  23,  1850. 

The  minister  for  1851  was  W.  R.  Branham;  for  1852, 
Lovick  Pierce,  "old  man  eloquent,"  and  1853-54,  W.  M. 
Crumley,  the  father  of  Rev.  Howard  Crumley.  In  1853  there 
was  a  great  revival  and  the  congregation  became  too  large 
for  one  church,  hence  Wesley  Chapel  was  reopened  in  '54 
with  J.  G.  Paine  as  preacher.  He  died  of  yellow  fever  that 
summer.  The  appointment  was  continued  until  '60,  when 
it  was  dropped  and  the  property  afterward  sold.  The  fol- 
lowing preachers  served  it  one  year  each  after  '54  in  the 
order  given :  W.  M.  Crumley,  T.  H.  Jordan,  David  Hol- 
mes, L.  G.  R.  Wiggins,  H.  J.  Adams  and  John  T.  Norris. 

In  1860  the  minister  was  E.  W.  Speer.  In  '61-62  J.  H. 
Caldwell,  and  in  '63,  '64,  '65  and  '66  A.  M.  Wynn.  In  '67  R.  J. 
Corley  was  sent  to  Trinity  and  A.  M.  Wynn  to  Isle  of  Hope. 
This  was  merely  nominal,  as  Rev.  Wynn  was  really  pastor 
of  Trinity,  and  Rev.  Corley,  a  young  man  then,  was  as- 
sistant. 

About  this  time  all  the  negro  members  having  left  the  M. 
E.  Church,  South,  and  joined  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  old  An- 
drew Chapel,  on  New  street,  which  had  been  run  for  years 
as  a  mission  for  the  negroes,  was  closed  up. 

In  i868-'69,  Geo.  G.  G.  N.  MacDonell,  who  has  given  two 
sons  to  the  mission  field,  was  at  Trinity,  with  D.  D.  Cox 
as  city  missionary.  A  Sunday-school  had  been  run  in  Chat- 
ham Academy  for  some  years,  and  with  this  as  a  basis, 
Brother  Cox  began  his  work,  and  on  the  25th  day  of  Jan- 
uary, '68,  organized  a  church  with  71  members.  At  the  quar- 
terly conference,  two  days  after,  R.  D.  Walker  moved  that  it 
be  called  "Wesley  Chapel,"  and  thus  was  born  "Wesley 
Monumental  Church."  The  change  of  name  was  due  to  A. 
M.  Wynn,  who  conceived  the  idea  of  building  a  church  as 
a  monument  to  John  Wesley,  Robert  Mclntyre  and  C.  D. 
Rogers  were  appointed  a  building  committee  to  fit  up  the 
old  German  Lutheran  Church,  which  stood  on  the  present 
site  of  Wesley  Monumental  Church. 

In  '75  when  the  cornerstone  of  her  present  magnificent 
building  was  laid,  the  building  committee  consisted  of  R. 
D.  Walker,  R.  B.  Reppard,  Robert  Mclntyre  and  C.  D. 
Rogers,  from  Trinity,  and  C.  H.  Carson  and  W.  H.  Burrell 
from  Wesley. 

In  '77  while  J.  W.  Simmons  was  citv  missionary,  the  trus- 
tees of  Trinity  bought  the  lot  on  which  Grace  Church  and 
parsonage  now  stands,  and  built  a  frame  house  for  the  small 


12  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

congregation,  and  set  it  up  as  New  Houston  Street  Church. 
In  1890  the  congregation  began  the  erection  of  the  present 
edifice,  and  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Robert  Mclntyre  and  the 
Methodism  of  the  city,  brought  it  to  a  completion. 

In  i88i-'82-'83,  J.  O.  Branch,  who  has  two  sons  in  the 
ministry,  came  to  Trinity,  while  in  i884-'85-'86-'87  came 
T.  T.  Christian,  who  also  has  two  sons  in  the  ministry.  In 
1886  the  trustees  of  Trinity  Church  bought  a  lot  and  built 
Marvin  Church  in  Robertsville.  In  May,  '91,  it  was  moved 
to  the  corner  of  West  Broad  and  Charles  streets.  In  Jan- 
uary, '97,  that  building  was  sold  and  a  new  church  and  par- 
sonage was  built  on  the  corner  of  Jefferson  and  Thirty- 
Seventh  streets. 

In  1888  Robt.  Mvlntyre,  whose  liberality  abounded  so 
towards  Wesley  Monumental  and  Grace  churches,  built  the 
Sunday-school  room  in  rear  of  Trinity  Church  and  presented 
it  to  the  congregation. 

Savannah  now  has  four  well  established,  self-supporting 
churches  with  over  1,800  members. 

As  a  result  a  well  equipped  city  missionary  was  provided 
for  and  a  forward  movement  begun. 


WESLE\  BI-CKNTENAKY.  13 


OPENING  EXERCISES  THURSDAY,  JUNE  25th, 
5:30  A.  M. 


The  opening  of  the  celebration  was  most  auspicious.  At 
the  hour  appointed  Wesley  Monumental  Church  was  filled 
with  interested  people,  and  on  the  platform  was  seen  Bishop 
Candler  of  Georgia;  Hon.  Samuel  B.  Adams,  Rev.  J.  W. 
Heidt,  D.  D. ;  Rev.  A.  M.  Williams,  Rev.  H.  C.  Christian, 
Rabbi  Mencles,  D.  D.,  of  the  Mickva  Israel;  Rev.  Chas.  H. 
Strong,  D.  D.,  of  St.  John's  P.  E.  Church;  Rev.  W.  C. 
Schaeffer,  D.  D.,  Lutheran  Church  of  the  Ascension ;  Rev. 
W.  A.  Nisbet,  Westminster  Presbyterian  Church ;  Rev.  John 
D.  Jordon,  D.  D.,  First  Baptist  Church;  Rev.  R.  Vande- 
venter,  of  the  Duffy  Street  Baptist  Church ;  Rev.  \V.  P.  Mc- 
Corkle,  D.  D.,  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  other 
ministers. 

Hymn  sheets  had  been  distributed  and  the  service  was 
begun  by  the  singing  of  hymn  No.  171,  "Come,  Holy  Ghost, 
Our  Hearts  Inspire,"  by  Charles  Wesley.  The  entire  con- 
gregation joined  in  the  singing  and  it  was  very  effective. 

Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.  Heidt  of  Oxford  district,  read  a  portion  of 
Scriptures,  from  I3th  Chapter  First  Corinthians,  and  lead 
in  prayer. 

Hymn  No.  207,  "O,  Might  My  Lot  Be  Cast  With  These." 
Charles  Wesley,  was  sung. 

The  offertory,  Dudley  Buck's  arrangement  of  "Rock  of 
Ages,"  sung  by  the  choir,  was  prettily  rendered. 

THE  BISHOP'S  REMARKS. 

Bishop  Candler  before  introducing  Judge  Adams,  took  oc- 
casion to  speak  briefly  on  the  general  subject  of  Wesley  and 
his  work.  It  was  very  pleasant  to  note  such  an  assemblage, 
he  said,  on  the  occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  celebration. 
Wesley  was  unquestionably  the  most  remarkable  man  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  any 
century. 

The  Bishop  alluded  to  the  fact  that  celebrations  similar 
to  this  were  being  conducted  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and 
that  the  newspapers  and  magazines  were  filled  with  articles 


14  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

on  the  life  and  works  of  John  Wesley.  The  world  owed 
much  to  Wesley  and  the  observance  of  his  natal  day  was 
very  right  and  proper.  In  Savannah,  where  Wesley  had 
lived  and  labored  while  in  this  country,  it  was  especially  ap- 
propriate that  great  attention  be  paid  to  the  celebration, 
Savannah  had  no  doubt  called  many  of  her  citizens  famous, 
but  Wesley  might  easily  be  said  to  be  Savannah's  renowned 
citizen. 

Bishop  Candler  then  introduced  Judge  Adams,  and  at  the 
close  of  his  address,  Hymn  No.  486  was  sung,  and  the  ben- 
ediction was  pronounced. 


Hon    Samuel  B.  Adams. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  17 


"JOHN  WESLEV,  THE  POUNDER  OP  METHODISM.' 


An  Address  Delivered  the  Evening  of  June  25,  1903,  by 
Samuel  B.  Adams 

• 

Fellow  Methodists,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — This  even- 
ing's exercises  usher  in  a  notable  occasion,  the  assemblage 
of  Methodists  in  Savannah,  at  the  Bi-centenary  of  his  birth, 
to  do  honor  to  John  Wesley,  their  "Father  in  Israel,"  to 
whom,  under  God,  is  peculiarly  due  the  Methodist  move- 
ment and  the  great  Church  which  resulted  from  that  move- 
ment. It  is  fitting  that  the  celebration  be  held  in  this  city, 
his  only  American  home,  the  scene  of  his  labors  for  twenty- 
two  months,  the  place  which  witnessed,  to  use  his  words, 
"the  second  rise  of  Methodism."  I  welcome  this  large 
gathering.  1  trust  that  the  celebration  will  mean  more  than 
a  mere  Methodist  jubilee,  and  that  its  inspiration  will  be  in- 
corporated in  the  lives  of  his  followers  to  the  end  that  they 
exhibit  increased  steadfastness  and  zeal  in  the  good  work 
started  by  our  founder. 

I  use  the  word  "founder"  deliberately,  and  yet  I  realize 
that  the  question  as  to  who  is  responsible  for  a  particular 
Church  is  vastly  less  important  than  the  question  as  to 
what  that  Church  is  doing  for  God  and  humanity.  An  in- 
dividual who  boasts  often  of  his  pedigree  is  not,  usually, 
the  person  to  whom  his  descendants  will  refer  with  pride. 
Unless  we  are  walking  worthily  of  the  founder,  we  publish 
our  unworthiness  when  we  stress  the  fact  that  he  is  our 
spiritual  head.  That  Church  is  the.  best  Church  which  best 
illustrates  the  teachings  and  spirit  of  Christ,  the  great  Head 
of  the  Church,  which  does  the  best  service  in  His  name  and 
best  helps  its  members  to  be  what  they  ought  to  be,  whether 
the  Church  knows  its  earthly  founder  or  not. 

I  appreciate,  too,  the  fact  that  the  word  "founder,"  when 
applied  to  a  true  scriptural  Church,  is  not  felicitous,  or  en- 
tirely accurate.  When  we  use  it  we  speak  after  the  manner 
of  men.  I  recognize,  using  the  language  of  another,  <(that 
no  man  nor  set  of  men  can  create  a  Christian  Church.  Its 
underlying  principles  and  sacraments  are  of  God.  Its  ends, 
its  sanctions,  its  authority  and  its  power  are  all  divine.  God 


18  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

made  the  Church ;  it  is  His  !"  But,  under  God,  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Methodist  Church  was  due  chiefly  to  John  Wes- 
ley and  to  the  principles  revived  and  stressed  by  him.  It 
was  the  inevitable  and  by  him  the  anticipated  result  of  the 
movement  commonly  known  as  the  "Methodist  movement," 
started,  sustained  and  developed  by  him. 

I  discuss  the  theme  assigned  me  in  no  controversial 
spirit.  I  do  not  object  to  any  Church  honoring  him.  He 
was  too  big  a  man  to  be  the  exclusive  property  of  any  de- 
nomination. He  was  np  mere  sectarian.  Because,  here  in 
Savannah,  he  was  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  England,  intense- 
ly devoted  to  its  rubrics  and  never,  technically,  withdrew 
from  the  National  Church  of  England,  there  may  be 
special  reason  for  that  Church,  or  one  of  her  daughters,  do- 
ing him  honor.  We  all  ought  to  be  glad  to  have  him  honor- 
ed by  any  Church,  or  by  any  people,  and  of  the  reflex  bless- 
ings resulting  to  those  honoring  him.  The  Church  of  Eng- 
land was  wonderfully  helped  in  its  spirituality  by  the  Metho- 
dist movement,  a  fact  which  some  of  its  greatest  men 
have,  in  late  years,  gladly  recognized.  The  recognition  of 
the  obligation,  while  in  the  main  tardy,  is  now  complete. 
The  Church  of  England  ought  to  build  him  a  towering 
monument,  not  as  a  Churchman,  in  that  capacity  his  title 
to  it  cannot  be  established,  but  as  a  Prince  in  Israel,  who 
put  the  Church  under  the  highest  possible  obligation,  be- 
cause he  stirred  the  dying  embers  of  its  spiritual  life  and 
helped  to  save  it  from  utter  spiritual  death. 

By  Methodism  we  mean  "the  doctrines  and  polity  of  the 
Methodist  Church."  This  definition,  taken  from  the  Cen- 
tury Dictionary,  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose.  This  same 
authority  defines  a  founder  as  follows :  "An  originator ; 
one  from  whom  anything  derives  its  beginning;  an  author, 
as  the  founder  of  a  sect  of  philosophers ;  the  founder  of  a 
family."  This  definition  does  not  ignore  the  fact  that  the 
principles  of  every  true  philosophy  existed  before  the  founder 
was  born,  just  as  the  principles  of  every  true  Church  must 
have  been  taught  of  God  and  must  be  based  upon  His  revela- 
tion. But  John  Wesley  revived,  stressed  and  fixed  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Methodist  Church.  He  originated  its  polity. 
Those  doctrines  and  that  polity  to-day  are  essentially  Wes- 
leyan.  His  sermons,  known  as  "The  Four  Volumes,"  and 
his  "Notes  on  the  New  Testament,"  furnish  the  body  of 
our  divinity.  If  he  were  living  to-day  he  would  be  a  repre- 
sentative Methodist. 


WESLEY  BI-CKNTENAUY.  19 

Stress  is  sometimes  laid  upon  the  fact,  by  those  who 
would  challenge  our  right  to  Wesley,  that  he  never,  tech- 
nically, seceded  from  the  National  Church  known  as  the 
Church  of  England.  I  submit  that  this  insistence  simply 
"sticks  in  the  bark."  As  suggested  by  another,  it  is  an  ef- 
fort to  claim  the  "corpse"  rather  than  the  real  man.  He 
was  substantially  out  of  the  Church  of  England  for  many 
years  before  his  death,  and  his  only  real  religious  affilia- 
tions were  with  the  people  called  Methodists.  The  leaders 
of  the  Church  certainly  did  not,  with  one  or  two  isolated 
exceptions,  regard  him  as  a  member.  They  repudiated  and 
scorned  him.  Their  consensus  of  opinion,  manifested  by  acts 
as  well  as  by  words,  as  to  his  ecclesiastical  status  is  rather 
more  valuable  than  the  occasional  views  of  modern  Church- 
men, who  confine  themselves  to  the  surface  fact  mentioned 
without  looking  more  deeply  into  the  real  question.  From 
the  date  of  what  he  calls  his  conversion,  he  ceased  to  be  a 
ritualist  and  became  Wesley,  the  evangelist,  Wesley  the 
spiritual  father  of  the  Methodists.  In  his  sermon  delivered 
in  April,  1777,  on  laying  the  foundation  of  the  new  Metho- 
dist Chapel  near  the  City  Road,  London,  he  refers  to 
the  formation  in  Savannah  "of  the  rudiments  of  a  Metho- 
dist Society;"  to  this  then  'Vehement  attachment"  to  the 
Church  and  its  rubrics ;  to  the  fact  that,  at  the  time,  he 
would  never  admit  a  dissenter  to  the  Lord's  Supper  unless 
he  would  be  re-baptised,  and,  after  these  words,  he  signifi- 
cantly says  "Nay,  when  the  Lutheran  minister  of  the  Saltz- 
burghers  at  Ebenezer,  being  at  Savannah,  desired  to  receive 
it,  I  told  him  I  did  not  dare  to  administer  it  to  him,  be- 
cause I  looked  upon  him  as  unbaptised ;  as  I  judged  baptism 
by  laymen  to  be  invalid,  and  such  I  counted  all  that  were 
not  episcopally  ordained.  Full  of  these  sentiments,  if  this 
zeal  of  the  Church  (from  which  I  bless  God  he  has  now  de- 
livered me)  I  returned  to  England  in  the  beginning  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1738."  After  stating  how  his  preaching  was  unac- 
ceptable to  the  Churches,  he  adds:  "In  a  short  time,  partly 
because  of  those  unwieldly  crowds,  partly  because  of  my 
unfashionable  doctrine,  I  was  excluded  from  one  and  another 
and  at  length  shut  out  of  all."  As  far  back  as  1739,  to  the 
scandal  of  good  Churchmen,  he  preached  in  the  open  air  to 
immense  crowds  and  had  that  hearing  which  was  denied  him 
in  the  Church  buildings.  At  this  time  he  established  a  meet- 
ing house  at  the  foundry  in  Moofields,  and  soon  thereafter 
Bristol  and  Kingswood  followed,  and  these  were  places  for 
public  preaching  and  religious  meetings.  Other  preaching 


20  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

houses  were  erected,  and,  for  fifty  years,  these  places  were 
settled  upon  Wesley  himself.     They  never  at  any  time  be- 
longed to  the  Church  of  England,  or  were  subject  thereto. 
They  came  into  the  Methodist  connection  through  Wesley. 
The  general  and  systematic  exclusion  of  himself  and  his  fol- 
lowers from  the  Lord's  Supper  led  to  his  administration  of 
the  sacrament  to  his  Societies  at  Bristol  as  early  as  1740. 
This  right  was  soon  demanded  and  secured  by  other  So- 
cieties, and  was  another  important  step  towards  the  estab- 
lishment of  a   separate   Church.     As  early  as   1741   he  set 
apart  lay  preachers   for  the   preaching  of  the  Word,  and, 
long  before  his  death,  a  number  of  these  preachers  adminis- 
tered the  sacraments  in  Methodist  Churches.     He  had  his 
first  conference  in  1744  and  early  thereafter  until  his  death, 
the  latter  part   of  the   century.      Mr.   Watson  justly   says, 
concerning  these  first-appointed     lay  preachers, :     "It  has 
been  generally  supposed  that  Mr.  Wesley  did  not  consider 
his  appointment  of  preachers  as  an  ordination  to  the  minis- 
try but  only  as  an  irregular  appointment  of  laymen  in  the 
spiritual   office   of   merely   expounding  the   scriptures   in   a 
case  of  moral  necessity.     This  is  not  correct.     They  were 
not  appointed  to  expound  or  preach  merely  but  were  solemn- 
ly set  apart  to  the  pastoral  office ;  nor  were  they  regarded  by 
him  as  laymen,  except  when,  in  common  parlance,  they  were 
distinguished  from  the  Clergy  of  the  Church."     It  has  also 
been  well-said  and  it  is  true,  that  "it  was  not  until  nearly 
forty  years  after  this  that  he  began  to  use  the  imposition  of 
hands;  but  that  was  a  mere  circumstance;  not  the  essence 
of  ministerial  ordination."     From  the  time  that  he  read  and 
accepted,  in  1746,  the  views  of  Lord  King,  he  always  main- 
tained that  the  "uninterrupted  succession  was  a  fable  which 
no  man  ever  did  or  could  prove"  and  that  the  office  of  Bishop 
was  originally  one  and  the  same  with  that  of  Presbyter,  and 
it  resulted  in  his  claiming  the  same  right  to  ordain  as  any 
Bishop  in  the  Church.    Naturally,  he  was  denounced  by  pul- 
pit and  press  as  a  dissenter  and  a  schismatic,  with  no  part 
or  right  with  the  Church,  and  was  as  completely  and  sub- 
stantially out  of  its  pale  as  if  he  had  enrolled  himself  as  a 
dissenter.     He  was  not  actually  tried  and  expelled  by  any 
technical  judgment  of  expulsion.     This  may  be,  because  of 
the  reason  assigned  by  his  brother,  Samuel   Wesley,  in  a 
letter  written  to  their  mother  in  1739,  Just  before  the  death 
of  Samuel,  in  which  this  earnest  Churchman  denounces,  with 
great  warmth  and  freedom,  the  irregularities  and  schism  of 
"Jack"  and  his  followers,  saying,  among  other  things  "they 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  21 

designed  separation.  They  are  already  forbidden  all  the 
pulpits  in  London,  and  to  preach  in  that  diocese  is  actual 
schism.  In  all  likelihood,  it  will  come  to  ^,ie  same  all  over 
England,  if  the  Bishops  have  courage  enough.  They  leave 
off  the  liturgy  in  the  fields  *  *  As  I  told  Jack,  I  am  not 
afraid  the  Church  should  excommunicate  him  (discipline  is 
at  too  low  an  ebb)  but  that  he  should  excommunicate  the 
Church.  It  is  pretty  near  it." 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  these  Methodist  Societies, 
which  existed  for  fifty  years  under  Wesley's  guidance  and 
control,  supplied  by  Methodist  preachers,  were  ever  organi- 
zations within  the  established  Church.  They  were  entirely 
independent  of  that  Church.  They  and  their  members  were 
never  at  any  time  under  the  control  of  any  Bishop  or  other 
representative  of  the  Church  of  England.  A  considerable 
per  cent,  of  them  had  never  been  members  of  the  Church 
of  England,  were  technical  and  avowed  dissenters  and  their 
dissent  was  no  bar  to  their  admission  or  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  their  full  fellowship.  It  is  true  that  a  few  clergymen 
of  the  Church  of  England  were  connected  with  these  So- 
cieties, but  they  were  not  members  by  virtue  of  their  orders. 
As  clergymen  of  the  Church,  they  had  no  authority  over 
the  Societies.  Wesley  encouraged  them  to  go  to  the  Parish 
Church,  when  they  were  allowed  to  do  so,  but  he  did  not 
assume  to  require  this,  or  make  their  attendance  a  test  of 
their  loyalty  to  the  Societies.  An  increasingly  large  propor- 
tion of  them  abstained  from  going  year  by  year.  Many 
years  before  Wesley's  death  Methodism  was  completely 
organized  in  England  as  well  as  in  America  and  Wesley 
was  its  acknowledged  father  and  head.  Before  he  had  sent 
Coke  to  America,,  there  was  as  completely  a  Methodist 
Church  in  England  as  there  is  to-day.  Wesley  generally, 
but  not  always,  called  the  organizations  Societies.  The 
mere  name,  however,  cannot  be  significant.  He  more  than 
once  referred  to  them  as  a  Church.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  there  were  in  Great  Britain,  the  Isle  of  Man  and  the 
Channel  Islands,  nineteen  circuits,  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  preachers  and  57,562  members.  In  Ireland  there 
were  29  circuits,  67  preachers  and  14,006  members.  There 
were  also  n  mission  circuits  in  the  West  Indies  and  British 
America,  19  preachers  and  5,300  members.  The  number  in 
the  United  States  was  supposed  to  be  43,265.  These  consti- 
tuted no  inconsiderable  Church,  and,  with  absolute  unanimi- 
ty, Wesley  was  regarded  as  their  leader,  their  Father  in 
Israel  and  their  founder.  The  Church  of  England  had  no 


22  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

more  jurisdiction  or  authority  over  them  than  the  Church 
of  Rome. 

A  superficial  view  of  the  case  might  convict  Wesley  of  be- 
ing unstable  and  inconsistent  because  of  his  expression  of 
variant  and  irreconcilable  views  in  his  Journal.  This  is  true, 
not  because  he  was  insincere  or  inconstant,  but  because  his 
mind  was  for  years  in  a  formative  state  and  he  was  strug- 
gling (unwittingly)  against  the  logical  results  of  his  convic- 
tions and  changes  of  opinion.  Let  it  be  always  borne  in 
mind  that  he  was  born  and  bred  an  intense  Churchman  and 
Tory.  He  clung  to  a  National  Church  persistently,  even 
stubbornly.  Anything  that  bore  the  name  of  "dissent" 
caused  his  prejudices  to  revolt,  and  yet  he  ceased  to  be  a 
Churchman  in  the  Church  of  England  sense  of  the  word 
soon  after  his  return  to  England  from  America,  although 
still  calling  himself  a  Churchman.  I  do  not  attach  much  im- 
portance to  a  mere  name.  A  man  born  and  bred  a  Demo- 
crat and  intensely  devoted  to  the  party  name  would  cease 
to  be  a  Democrat  if  he  held  and  professed  distinctively  Re- 
publican and  anti-Democratic  principles,  although  he  might 
insist  upon  the  name.  . 

Wesley  himself  realized  that  his  position  of  opposition  to 
a  technical  separation,  notwithstanding  the  substantial 
separation  which  had  taken  place  as  to  the  necessary  re- 
sult of  his  course,  was  not  logical.  Hear  his  notable  words, 
contained  in  a  letter  to  bis  brother  Charles  written  as  far 
back  as  1755 :  "My  conclusion,  which  I  cannot  yet  give  up — 
that  it  is  lawful  to  continue  in  the  Church — stands,  I  know 
not  how,  without  any  premises  to  bear  its  -weight.  I  know 
the  original  doctrines  of  the  Church  are  sound,  I  know  her 
worship  is,  in  the  main,  pure  and  Scriptural.  But  if  the  'es- 
sence of  the  Church  of  England,  considered  as  such,  con- 
sists of  her  orders  and  laws  (many  of  which  I  can  myself  say 
nothing  for)  and  not  in  her  worship  and  doctrines,'  those 
who  separate  from  her  have  a  far  stronger  plea  than  I  was 
ever  sensible  of."  While  this  is  true,  it  is  also  true  that  even 
in  England  where  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Established 
Church  existed  that,  (using  the  words  of  another,)  "Wesley 
not  only  pointed  but  paved  the  way  to  all  that  has  since  been 
done,  and  that  the  utmost  divergence  of  Methodism  from 
the  Church  of  England  at  this  day  is  but  the  prolongation  of 
a  line  the  beginning  of  which  was  traced  by  Wesley's  own 
hand." 

A  careful  study  of  his  utterances  from  time  to  time  on 
this  subject  will  show  that  when  he  advised  against  a  separa- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  23 

tion  he  had  in  mind  a  formal  and  collective  act  by  the  Con- 
ference, or  by  the  authoritative  action  of  the  Methodists 
a  body.  He  did  not  expect,  certainly  for  years  before  his 
death,  that  the  bulk  of  his  people,  or  any  considerable  num- 
ber, would  remain  in  the  communion  of  the  Established 
Church  or  be  subject  to  its  discipline,  even  in  England.  On 
the  contrary,  he  distinctly  anticipated  another  result  and 
prepared  for  it,  although  to  the  last,  expressions  may  be 
found  advising  against  this  formal  step  in  England.  In  1755 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Rector  of  the  Church  of  England 
in  which  appear  these  words :  "At  present  I  apprehend  those 
and  those  only  to  separate  from  the  Church  who  either  re- 
nounce her  fundamental  doctrines,  or  refuse  to  join  in  her 
public  worship.  As  yet  we  have  done  neither."  In  a  letter 
to  the  Dublin  Chronicle,  published  in  1789,  he  says :  "The 
Rev.  Edward  Smythe  earnestly  advised  me  to  leave  the 
Church;  meaning  thereby  (as  all  sensible  men  do)  to  re- 
nounce all  connection  with  it,  to  attend  the  services  of  it 
no  more  and  to  advise  all  our  Societies  to  take  the  same 
steps.  His  reasons  were  severally  considered  and  answer- 
ed and  we  all  determined  not  to  leave  the  Church."  The 
minutes  of  the  Conference  of  1766  show  that  the  formal  ques- 
tion "Are  we  not  dissenters?"  was  proposed  and  Wesley 
replied  to  it  as  follows :  "We  are  irregular ;  one,  by  calling 
sinners  to  repentance  in  all  places  of  God's  dominion,  two, 
by  frequently  using  extempore  prayer.  Yet  we  are  not  dis- 
senters in  the  only  sense  which  our  law  acknowledges, 
namely,  persons  who  believe  it  is  sinful  to  attend  the  service 
of  the  Church."  In  a  sermon  preached  in  1789,  he  thus 
declares  himself,  "Many  warm  men  say,  you  do  separate 
from  the  Church ;  others  are  equally  warm  because  they 
say,  I  do  not.  I  will  show  nakedly  the  thing  as  it  is.  I  hold 
all  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England.  I  love  her 
liturgy;  I  approve  her  plan  of  discipline,  and  only  wish  it 
could  be  put  in  execution.  I  do  not  knowingly  vary  from 
any  rule  of  the  Church,  unless  in  those  few  instances  where 
I  judge,  and  far  as  I  judge,  there  is  an  absolute  necessity." 
(He  instances  preaching  abroad,  praying  extempore,  or- 
ganizing his  Societies  in  classes,  holding  Conferences  and, 
in  those  Conferences,  stationing  the  preachers).  "But  all 
this  is  not  separating  from  the  Church.  So  far  from  it, 
that,  whenever  I  have  opportunity,  I  attend  the  Church 
services  myself  and  advise  all  our  Societies  so  to  do."  In 
a  letter  to  his  brother  Charles,  written  in  1785,  he  states 
that  "the  Church  of  England"  means  "all  the  believers  in 


24  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

England,  except  Papists  and  Dissenters,  who  have  the  word 
of  God  and  the  sacraments  administered  among  them."    He, 
of  course,,  used  the  word  "Dissenters"  in  the  technical  and 
legal  sense.    He  referred  only  to  those  who  were  so  legally,, 
and  had  claimed  the     privileges     belonging     to  the  sects 
known  as  Dissenters  under  the  Toleration  Act.     Under  this 
broad  definition,  all  of  his  members,  except  Dissenters,  be- 
longed to  the  Established  Church,  whether  they  ever  went 
to  church  or  not,  or  in  any  way  recognized  their  connec- 
tion with  it.     We  quote  the  following  significant  language 
from  his  "Thoughts  on  Separation  from  the  Church"  writ- 
ten in  1788:     "The  question  properly  refers  (when  we  speak 
of  a  separation  from  the  Church)  to  a  total  and  immediate 
separation.    Such  was  that  of  Mr.  Ingham's  people  first,  and 
afterwards  that  of  Lady  Huntingdon's,  who  all  agreed  to 
form  themselves  into  a  separate  body  without  delay  and  to- 
have  no  more  connection  with  the  Church  of  England  than 
with  the  Church  of  Rome.  Such  a  separation  I  have  always 
declared  against ;  and  certainly  it  will  not  take  place,  if  ever 
it  does,  while  I  live.     But  a  kind  of  separation  has  already 
taken  place  and  will  inevitably  spread,  though  by  slow  de- 
grees."    It  continued  to  spread,  and,  as  the  result,  the  peo- 
ple called  Methodists  as  completely  ceased  even  in  England 
to  attend  the  Churches  of  the  Establishment  as  those  of  the 
Baptist  or  Presbyterian  or  any  other  separate  organization,, 
but,  in  Wesley's  sense  of  the  term,  British  Methodism  has 
never   separated   from   the   Church   of   England.      Even   so 
formal  and  solemn  an  instrument  as  this  deed  poll,  executed 
in   1784,  constituting  and  defining  the  Conference,  and  fix- 
ing the  title  to  all  the  property,  did  not  make  this  complete 
separation  in  Wesley's  understanding  of  the  term.     It  even 
made  provision  for  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  to 
be  among  his  preachers  and  exempted  such  clergymen  from 
his  law  of  itinerancy.     It  has  been  correctly  stated  by  an 
eminent  authority  that  "the  key  by  which  we  are  to  unlock 
all  the  seeming  inconsistencies  in  Wesley's  course  and  re- 
solve them  into  instances  of  real  consistency  with  the  Mas- 
ter-principle of  his  life  is  simply  this :     Wesley  was,  first  of 
all,  an  evangelist  called  of  God  to  preach  the  gospel,  whether 
with  or  without  ecclesiastical  direction  or  consent,  and  after 
that — next  after,  but  still  at  a     great     interval — he  was  a 
Churchman."    As  far  back  as  1744  the  minutes  of  the  Con- 
ference for   that   year   show  an   express   discussion   of   the 
probabilities  of  secession,  and  Wesley  then  asserts,  accord- 
ing to  these  minutes,  "but    we    cannot,    with  a  good  con- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  25 

science,  neglect  the  opportunity  of  saving  souls  while  we 
live  for  fear  of  consequences  which  may  possibly  or  proba- 
bly happen  after  we  are  dead."  In  1785  he  writes  to  his 
brother,  "Indeed  I  love  the  Church  as  sincerely  as  ever  I 
did,  and  I  tell  our  Societies  everywhere,  the  Methodists  will 
not  leave  the  Church,  at  least  while  I  live."  In  his  journal 
of  August  26,  1789,  he  makes  the  following  record:  "I  met 
the  Society  at  Red  Ruth  and  explained  at  large  the  rise  and 
nature  of  Methodism  and  stiH  aver  I  have  never  read  or  heard 
of,  either  in  ancient  or  modern  history,  any  other  Church 
which  builds  on  so  broad  a  foundation  as  the  Methodists  do, 
which  requires  of  its  members  no  conformity,  either  in  opin- 
ions or  modes  of  worship,  but  purely  the  one  thing  to  fear 
God  and  work  righteousness."  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that 
he  was  writing  in  England  and  of  English  Methodists.  The 
case  as  to  American  Methodism  is  clear  beyond  reasonable 
doubt.  After  the  meeting  of  the  Conference  in  Baltimore 
which  organized  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Ameri- 
ca no  expression  of  his  against  separation  could  possibly 
have  referred  to  this  distinct  Church. 

Lord  Mansfield  (who  may  be  almost  as  good  an  authority 
as  some  of  our  modern  churchmen)  gave  it  as  his  opinion 
that  "ordination  is  separation."  Under  this  opinion  (one 
quoted  to  John  Wesley  by  his  brother  Charles  as  conclu- 
sive in  a  letter  written  in  1786)  just  as  soon  as  he  ordained 
this  was  ipso  facto  separation,  whether  he  so  designed  or 
not.  Dr.  Ryle,  the  Bishop  of  Liverpool,  is  quoted  as  saying, 
in  an  address  delivered  not  many  years  back,  "There  are 
many  things  the  people  ought  to  know  about  Wesley  that 
are  not  generally  known,  and,  among  them,  this,  that  he 
loved  the  Church  of  England  from  the  earliest  days  of  his 
life;  that  he  never  formally  left  the  Church  of  England,  but 
that  the  Church  of  England  obliged  him  to  go  outside." 
Miss  Wedgewood,  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England, 
whose  evidence  on  this  subject  ought  to  be  worth  some- 
thing, writes,  in  her  work  on  "John  Wesley  and  the  Evan- 
gelical Reaction  of  the  i8th  Century,"  as  follows:  "It  was 
not  in  their  (the  Church  of  England's)  power  to  crush  the 
new  order,  but  the  strange  anomalies  of  the  English  law 
had  left  it  in  their  power  to  force  it  to  become  a  sect.  If  it 
was  possible  that  the  Church  of  England  should  sanction 
an  itinerant  order  preaching  her  doctrines,  and  with  few  ad- 
ditions necessary  to  secure  existence  in  enforcing  her  rules, 
the  clergy  of  the  i8th  century  determined  to  make  it  possi- 
ble. They  excommunicated  the  Methodists;  they  set  on  a 


26  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

mob  to  stone  them;  they  diverted  all  the  energy  which  had 
been  spent  on  Deists  and  Arians  to  attack  the  men  who 
preached  the  gospel  to  heathens.  Thus  forced  into  a  camp 
of  their  own,  organization  and  discipline  became  a  necessity 
to  the  order.  They  would  gladly  have  attended  the  Parish 
churches ;  they  did  for  very  long  continue  to  repair  to  them 
for  the  sacred  rights  which  formed  their  pledges  of  church 
membership,  but  even  this  had  to  be  given  up  at  last,  and, 
at  the  close  of  Wesley's  long  life,  the  time  arrived  for  this 
last  stage  in  Methodist  organization,  a  separation  from  the 
Church." 


But  the  Methodist  Church  in  America,  in  a  special  sense, 
can  call  John  Wesley  its  organizer  and  founder.  How  any 
one  can  question  the  title  of  American  Methodism  to  him  is 
incomprehensible.  Such  a  denial  is  as  untenable  as  the 
claim  that  he  ever  belonged  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  of  this  country.  This  Church  and  the  Methodist 
Church  of  America  may  be  both  daughters  of  the  Church 
of  England,  but  John  Wesley  was  never  a  member  of  the  ec- 
clesiastical organization  known  as  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  There  are  two  principles  of  universal  law  and  of 
common  sense  which  should  not  be  overlooked.  One  is 
that  what  a  man  does  through  another  he  does  himself,  and 
another  is,  that  the  ratification  of  an  unauthorized  act  by 
an  agent  makes  the  act  that  of  the  principal,  as  completely 
so  as  if  the  agent  had  been  originally  and  specially  instructed 
to  do  the  act  by  the  principal. 

Nothing  that  he  ever  did  or  said  can  have  the  evidential 
value  so  far  as  this  question  is  concerned,  as  the  ordination 
of  Coke  and  of  Whatcoat  and  Vasey  and  his  letter  of  Sep- 
tember 10,  1784,  addressed  "To  Dr.  Coke,  Mr.  Asbury  and 
our  brethren  in  North  America."  Wesley  was  then  81  years 
of  age.  The  course  adopted  by  him  was  with  the  utmost 
deliberation.  It  was  not  ascribable  to  the  indiscretion  of 
youth.  It  cannot  be  explained  upon  the  theory  of  the  ap- 
proach of  senility.  His  mind  was  clear  and  vigorous  to  the 
last  days  of  his  life.  It  was  not  a  new  idea  with  him,  this 
right  to  ordain.  He  had  believed  in  it  for  nearly  40  years, 
perhaps  longer.  This  letter  is  formal  and  authoritative.  It- 
may  be  called  "ex  cathedra."  Unless  assured  that  he  was 
the  acknowledged  head  of  the  brethren  addressed,  and  of 
their  organizations,  it  would  be  the  veriest  and  most  trans- 
parent assumption  and  audacity.  There  was  no  thought  at 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  27 

*  

the  time  in  the  mind  of  any  one  that  he  was  taking  the 
slightest  liberty.  On  the  contrary  the  communication  was 
received  and  heeded  by  the  Methodists  of  American  as  loyal- 
ly as  any  intense  Churchman  would  listen  to  a  pastoral  let- 
ter from  his  Bishop.  I  quote  the  letter  in  full : 

"By  a  very  uncommon  train  of  providences,  many  of  the 
provinces  of  North  America  are  totally  disjoined  from  the 
mother  country,  and  erected  into  independent  states.  The 
English  government  has  no  authority  over  them,  either  civil 
or  eccelsiastical,  any  mor~  than  over  the  states  df  Holland. 
A  civil  authority  is  exercised  over  them,  partly  by  the  con- 
gress, partly  by  the  provincial  assemblies.  But  no  one 
either  exercises  or  claims  any  ecclesiastical  authority  at  all. 
In  this  peculiar  situation,  some  thousands  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  these  states  desire  my  advice,  and  in  compliance 
with  their  desire,  I  have  drawn  up  a  little  sketch. 

"Lord  King's  account  of  the  primitive  church  convinced 
me,  many  years  ago,  that  bishops  and  presbyters  are  the 
s?.ir,e  order,  and  consequently  have  the  same  right  to  ordain. 
For  many  years,  I  have  been  importuned,  from  time  to  time, 
to  exercise  this  right,  by  ordaining  part  of  our  travelling 
pn?achers.  But  I  have  still  refused ;  not  only  for  peace  sake, 
but  because  I  was  determined,  as  little  as  possible,  to  vio- 
late the  established  order  of  the  national  church  to  which  I 
belonged. 

"But  the  case  is  widely  different  between  England  and 
North  America.  Here  there  are  bishops,  who  have  a  legal 
jurisdiction ;  in  America  there  are  none,  neither  any  parish 
ministers ;  so  that,  for  some  hundreds  of  miles  together, 
there  is  none  either  to  baptize,  or  to  administer  the  Lord's 
supper.  Here,  therefore,  my  scruples  are  at  an  end ;  and  I 
conceive  myself  at  full  liberty,  as  I  violate  no  order,  and  in- 
vade no  man's  rights,  by  appointing  and  sending  laborers 
into  the  harvest. 

"I  have  accordingly  appointed  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Francis 
Asbury  to  be  joint  superintendents  over  our  brethren  in 
North  America ;  as  also  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thomas 
Vasey,  to  act  as  elders  among  them,  by  baptising  and  ad- 
ministering the  Lord's  supper.  And  I  have  prepared  a  litur- 
gy, little  differing  from  that  of  the  Church  of  England,  (I 
think  the  best  constituted  National  church  in  the  world,) 
which  I  advise  all  the  travelling  preachers  to  use  on  the 
Lord's  day,  in  all  the  congregations,  reading  the  litany  only 
on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays,  and  praying  extempore  on  all 


28  >WESLEY  BI-CENTENAEY. 

other  days.  I  also  advise  the  elders  to  administer  the  supper 
of  the  Lord,  on  every  Lord's  day. 

"If  any  one  will  point  out  a  more  rational  and  scriptural 
way  of  feeding  and  guiding  these  poor  sheep  in  the  wilder- 
ness, I  will  gladly  embrace  it.  At  present,  I  cannot  see  any 
better  method  than  that  I  have  taken. 

"It  has,  indeed,  been  proposed  to  desire  the  English 
bishops  to  ordain  part  of  our  preachers  for  America.  But 
to  this  I  object:  (i)  I  desired  the  Bishop  of  London  to  or- 
dain one,  but  could  not  prevail.  (2)  If  they  consented,  we 
know  the  slowness  of  their  proceedings ;  but  the  matter  ad- 
mits of  no  delay.  (3)  If  they  would  ordain  them  now,  they 
would  expect  to  govern  them;  and  how  grievously  would 
this  entangle  us !  (4)  As  our  American  brethren  are  now  to- 
tally disentangled  from  the  state  and  the  English  hierarchy, 
we  dare  not  entangle  them  again,  either  with  the  one  or  the 
other.  They  are  now  at  full  liberty,  simply  to  follow  the 
scriptures  and  the  primitive  church.  And  we  judge  it  best 
that  they  should  stand  fast  in  that  liberty,  wherewith  God 
has  so  strangely  set  them  free." 

Note  the  reasons  given  for  not  exercising  the  right  to 
ordain  in  England,  not  only  "for  peace  sake"  but  because 
"I  was  determined  as  little  as  possible  to  violate  the  estab- 
lished order  of  the  National  Church  to  which  I  belonged." 
Loyalty  to  the  Government,  to  which  the  Church  was  a 
part,  there  being  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  was  involved 
in  a  separation  from  the  National  Church,  and  this  union 
and  this  principle  had  no  bearing  upon  the  situation  in 
America.  "Loyalty  with  me  is  an  essential  branch  of  re- 
ligion," he  said  upon  another  occasion.  He  expresses  in  this 
letter,  as  clearly  as  language  can,  the  fact  that  the  Church 
of  England  had  no  jurisdiction  over  the  American  Church, 
that  the  American  brethren  were  totally  separate  from  the 
English  Church  and  must  take  their  place  as  a  separate 
church,  working  out  their  own  destiny.  The  step  was  taken 
too  in  compliance  with  a  request  of  the  American  Metho- 
dists. Most  of  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England  had 
gone  to  England  during  the  struggle  for  American  Inde- 
pendence. The  Methodists  demanded  that  they  should  have 
their  own  ministers  and  that  the  sacraments  should  be  ad- 
ministered by  them  in  their  own  churches.  With  Coke  and 
this  letter  Wesley  sent  a  printed  liturgy  containing  prayers, 
forms  for  ordaining  superintendents,  elders  and  deacons, 
the  articles  of  religion,  and  a  collection  of  pslams  and 
hymns;  and  all  this  was  necessarily  for  the  permanent  use 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  29 

of  a  separate  and  distinct  church.  The  Methodist  preach- 
ers of  America  had  a  formal  conference  at  Baltimore  to 
receive  Coke  and  the  instructions  from  Wesley.  At  this 
conference,  which  terminated  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1785,  the  American  Methodist  Church  was  organized  as  a 
distinct  and  Separate  Church.  The  name  given  to  it  on 
a  motion  unanimously  passed  was  that  of  the  "Methodist 
Episcopal  Church."  The  minutes  were  published  with  the 
title,  "General  Minutes  of  the  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  America."  Its  members  from  that 
date  owed  no  more  allegiance  to  the  Church  of  England, 
or  any  daughter  thereof,  if  daughter  there  then  was,  than 
they  did  to  the  Baptist  or  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
minutes  of  this  Conference  state,  among  other  things, 
"Following  the  counsel  of  John  Wesley,  who  recommend- 
ed the  episcopal  form  of  church  government,  we  thought  it 
best  to  become  an  Episcopal  Church."  These  minutes  were 
in  Mr.  Wesley's  hands  some  months  afterwards  and  were 
published  in  England.  Not  a  word  of  repudiation  or  dis- 
afrlrmance  is  heard  from  him  as  to  what  was  done  or  said, 
save  only  that  in  a  letter,  written  by  him  several  years  after- 
wards, he  showed  that  he  objected  to  Asbury  calling  him- 
self Bishop.  Some  expressions  from  him  may  be  cited 
which  indicate  that  he  continued  to  be  opposed  to  the  Metho- 
dists of  England  separating  from  the  Established  Church, 
or  the  National  Church,  (as  he  understood  separation),  but 
nothing  can  be  found  from  him  which  shows  or  suggests 
that  he,  for  a  moment,  questioned  the  fact  that  American 
Methodism  was  a  separate  Church,  or  indulged  the  expecta- 
tion that  these  Methodists  would  come  back  to  the  Church 
of  England.  Unless  he  had  lost  his  mind,  he  could  not  have 
thought  that  they  remained  a  part  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  had  to  separate  again  in  order  to  become  a  dis- 
tinct organization.  Advice  to  American  Methodists,  after 
this  Conference,  against  separation  would  have  been  as  idle 
and  meaningless  as  similar  advice  to  Baptists  or  Presby- 
terians. He  took  Asbury  sharply  to  task  several  years 
afterwards  for  calling  himself  a  Bishop.  He  thought  Sup- 
erintendent was  the  proper  term  (Our  Bishops  are  now 
known  as  our  General  Superintendents).  But  the  name  is 
not  important.  The  truth  is  that  for  years  previous  to  this 
formal  organization  as  a  Church",  it  had  existed  in  America 
as  Episcopal  Church  with  the  complete  approval  of  Wes- 
ley. When  Coke  was  attacked  in  a  newspaper  for  what  he 
had  done,  his  reply  declared,  through  the  press,  that  he  had 
"done  nothing  but  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Wesley."  The 


30  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

correctness  of  this  public  statement  was  never  challenged 
or  denied.  So  that  even  if  Coke  had  gone  beyond  his  au- 
thority in  establishing  the  Methodist  Church  in  America  (of 
which  there  is  not  a  syllable  of  evidence)  Mr.  Wesley  fully 
ratified  what  he  did.  Indeed,  he,  in  terms,  declared,  after 
full  knowledge  of  the  facts.  "I  believe  Dr.  Coke  as  free 
from  ambition  as  from  covetousness.  He  has  done  nothing 
rashly  that  I  know."  (I  ought  to  state,  in  all  candor,  that  I 
fear  that  Dr.  Coke  did  not  deserve  the  commendation  as  to 
a  freedom  from  ambition,  but  this  personal  weakness  in  his 
character  does  not  affect  the  purpose  of  Wesley  or  what 
he  did  in  pursuance  of  his  instructions).  Certain  it  is  that 
Mr.  Wesley  intended  that  a  separate  Church  be  established 
in  America,  and  it  was  established  at  his  instance  and  under 
his  direction,  and  this  fact  was  thoroughly  known  and  recog- 
nized by  all  parties  concerned  at  the  time. 

In  a  .letter  written  February  25,  1785,  to  John  Stretton, 
then  a  resident  of  Newfoundland,  before  he  had  received  a 
report  from  Dr.  Coke,  he  writes  "Last  Autumn  Dr.  Coke 
sailed  from  England  and  is  now  visiting  the  flock  in  the  mid- 
land provinces  of  America  and  settling  them  on  the  New 
Testament  plan,  to  which  they  all  willingly  and  joyfully  con- 
form, being  all  united  as  by  one  spirit,  so  in  one  body."  It 
was  in  this  letter  that  he  assured  Stretton  that  his  preacher 
will  be  ordained. 

In  his  letter  addressed  by  him  to  the  "Rev.  Freeborn  Gar- 
rettson,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America," 
dated  June  16,  1785,  Garrettson's  name  being  the  first  in  the 
minutes  as  an  elder  ordained  by  Coke  at  Baltimore,  he  sup- 
posed he  was  writing  to  a  minister  of  a  regular  Church,  and, 
in  this  letter,  he  tells  him  "you  want  nothing  which  he  can 
give,"  referring  to  the  Episcopal  Bishop  and  the  orders  from 
that  source.  This  letter  to  Asbury,  written  September  20, 
1788,  wherein  he  takes  him  sharply  to  task  for  calling  him- 
self a  Bishop  instead  of  a  Superintendent,  is  sometimes 
quoted  to  indicate  that  Coke  went  farther  than  Wesley  in- 
tended, but  there  is  nothing  in  the  letter  to  suggest  this,  and 
it  appears  that  all  he  objected  to  was  that  Asbury  called  him- 
self a  Bishop.  This  very  letter  shows  that  he  was  then 
aiding  Coke  in  collecting  supplies  for  the  American  Metho- 
dists, the  very  people  who  had,  in  terms,  formed  themselves 
into  a  separate  and  distincf  Church.  In  this  letter  he  thus 
writes:  "There  is  indeed  a  wide  difference  between  the -re- 
lation wherein  you  stand  to  the  Americans,  and  the  rela- 
tion wherein  I  stand  to  all  the  Methodists.  You  are  the 
elder  brother  of  the  American  Methodists ;  I  am,  under  God, 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  81 

the  father  of  the  whole  family.  Therefore,  I,  naturally  care 
for  you  all  in  a  manner  no  other  person  can  do."  Evidently 
Mif,  Wesley  was  under  the  impression  that  he  was  the  father 
or  founder  of  the  Methodists.  Of  course,  he  may  not  have 
known  what  he  was  talking  about.  The  Methodists  of  his 
day  and  time  may  have  been  under  strange  hallucination. 
The  present  day  Churchmen  are  much  better  informed  than 
Wesley  and  all  of  his  followers  could  have  been.  Their  posi- 
tion for  accurate  information  is  obviously  more  advan- 
tageous. The  fact,  too,  that  all  histories,  religious  and  secu- 
lar, which  deal  with  Methodism  or  Wesley,  all  encyclopedias 
and  all  biographies  refer  to  him  as  the  founder  of  'Metho- 
dism, counts  for  naught.  A  few  Daniels,  who  occasionally 
"come  to  judgment"  brush  all  this  flimsy  evidence  aside  and 
calmly  and  modestly  inform  us  that  we  have  no  right  or 
title  to  Wesley.  Among  the  many  blunderers  on  this  ques- 
tion, I  may  refer  to  Bishop  Stevens,  the  author  of  the 
History  of  Georgia,  the  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania, 
who,  in  an  address  delivered  in  Christ  Church,  in  this  city, 
in  1873,  devoted  to  the  early  history  of  the  Church  in  Geor- 
gia, has  thus  expressed  himself,  "John  Wesley,  in  his  writ- 
ings distinguished  the  origin  of  Methodism  into  three 
periods.  The  first  rise  of  Methodism  he  says  was  in  1729, 
when  four  of  us  met  together  in  Oxford,  the  second  was  in 
Savannah  in  1736,  when  20  or  30  persons  met  at  my  house. 
The  last  was  at  London  on  this  day,  May  I,  1738,  when  40 
or  50  of  us  agreed  to  meet  together  every  Wednesday  even- 
ing. Thus  this  city  and  this  Church  is  connected  with  the 
most  marked  religious  event  of  the  i8th  century.  This  his- 
torical relationship,  the  founder  of  Methpdism  himself  as- 
serts, and  we  must  accept  his  decision."  Bishop  Stevens 
is  generally  regarded  as  a  most  excellent  authority  not  only 
as  a  historian  but  as  a  theologian.  It  is  barely  possible  that 
he  knew  what  he  was  talking  about  when  he  spoke  of  Wes- 
ley as  the  founder  of  Methodism  and  when  he  thought  that 
Wesley's  decision  as  to  a  matter  of  this  kind  was  entitled  to 
weight. 

The  year  after  the  organization  of  the  American  Church, 
Wesley  ordained  ministers  for  Scotland,  giving  them  all  the 
power  of  ordained  ministers.  He  gives,  as  a  reason,  that 
the  position  in  Scotland  was  substantially  such  as  it  was  in 
America,  and  he  says  in  terms  that  "whatever  then  is  done, 
either  in  America  or  Scotland,  is  no  separation  from  the 
Church  of  England"  (meaning,  of  course,  separation  by  Wes- 
ley himself).  "I  have  no  thought  of  this.  I  have  many  ob- 
jections against  it.  It  is  a  totally  different  case."  In  this 


32  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

he  recognizes  his  responsibility  for  what  had  been  done  in 
America,  but  denies  that  this  meant  that  he  (John  Wesley) 
had  separated  from  the  National  Church.  He  appointed 
these  ministers  to  administer  the  sacraments  North  of  the 
Tweed.  In  1788  he  went  a  step  farther  and  ordained  a 
number  of  preachers  (Tyerman  says  seven)  to  assist  him 
in  administering  the  sacraments  even  in  England  itself.  Dr. 
Rigg,  the  greatest  authority  on  this  subject,  so  recognized 
in  England  and  in  this  country  by  scholars,  selected  to 
write  an  article  on  Methodism,  which  appears  in  the  En- 
cyclopedia Brittanica,  says :  "Before  Wesley's  death  in  1791 
it  would  seem  that  there  were  more  than  a  dozen  of  his 
preachers  who  had  at  different  times  in  Scotland,  or  in  Eng- 
land, been  ordained  to  administer  the  sacraments." 

It  .would  seem  to  be  a  waste  of  time  to  prove  our  right, 
particularly  the  right  of  American  Methodists,  to  call  John 
Wesley  our  founder.  I  insist,  however,  that  this  is  not, 
after  all,  the  important  question  upon  this  or  any  other  occa- 
sion. If  he  was  taught  of  God,  the  question  of  questions 
with  us  ought  to  be  are  we  following  him  to  the  extent  that 
he  followed  Christ?  Are  we  true  to  the  spirit  of  the  teach- 
ings of  that  pure,  broad  and  spiritual  faith  of  which  Wesley 
and  all  true  Methodists  are  exponents?  Do  we  hate  perse- 
cution as  he  did  Do  we,  by  percept  and  example,  dis- 
courage and  denounce  injustice  to  men  because  of  their  race, 
religion,  or  color.  Listen  to  his  earnest  words:  "I  set  out 
early  in  life  with  an  utter  abhorrence  of  persecution  in  every 
form.  Reading  this  morning  a  tract  written  by  a  poor  Afri- 
can. I  was  particularly  struck  by  that  circumstance  that  a 
man  who  has  a  black  skin  being  wronged  or  outraged  by  a 
white  man  can  have  no  redress.  This  is  the  scandal  of  re- 
ligion, of  England  and  of  human  nature."  Are  these  words 
out  of  date  to-day?  Is  the  evil  suggested  and  reprobated 
entirely  a  thing  of  the  past?  Without  meaning  to  say,  or 
to  intimate,  that  they  apply  with  full  force  to  the  present 
day.  I  do  mean  to  sound  them  in  your  hearing  and  to  in- 
sist that  the  followers  of  John  Wesley  should  have,  and,  if 
they  be  true  followers,  will  have  an  utter  abhorrence  of  per- 
secution in  every  form.  Are  we  possessed  of  his  catholicity 
of  spirit,  his  freedom  from  narrowrness  and  bigotry.  "I  de- 
sire," said  Wesley,  "to  have  a  league  offensive  and  defensive 
with  every  soldier  of  Christ." 

Study  his  great,  his  marvelous,  life.  Catch  his  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice,  his  uncompromising  devotion  to  duty.  Be 
genuine  men  and  real  Christians.  Then  and  then  only  will 
you  be  real  members  of  his  spiritual  household,  of  the  great 
Church  founded  bv  him. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  35 


BETHESDA  DAY. 


As  Wesley  and  Whitefield  were  original  Methodists,  and 
as  Whitefield  followed  Wesley  as  minister  in  Savannah,  it 
was  very  appropriate  to  note  the  interesting  facts  in  a 
special  service.  Bethesda,  Whitefield's  great  monument  in 
America,  was  the  appropriate  place — Bishop  D.  A.  Good- 
sell,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  appropriate  ora- 
tor of  the  occasion.  A  severe  and  accute  attack  of  rheuma- 
tism prevented  the  presence  of  the  Bishop,  so  his  place  had 
to  be  filled  and  the  Committee  was  fortunate  in  securing  Dr. 
W.  W.  Pinson  of  Columbus,  Ga.  The  following  interesting 
story  from  the  News  gives  a  full  account  of  the  occasion — 
as  will  be  seen  resolutions  were  adopted  of  sympathy  for 
Bishop  Goodsell  with  a  request  for  his  address.  We  are 
under  many  obligations  for  the  courtesy  of  the  Bishop  in 
furnishing  us  a  copy  of  the  able  address  which  here  ap- 
pears-. 

The  exercises  of  the  afternoon,  as  it  happened,  were  two, 
instead  of  one,  and  this  was  all  the  more  interesting  for 
those  who  braved  the  weather.  The  two  celebrations  held 
happened  because  of  the  delay  experienced  by  the  regular 
speakers,  and  served  to. keep  the  attention  and  interest  of 
those  who  were  early  on  the  grounds.  All  remained  until 
the  principal  speakers  arrived,  and  the  programme  was 
properly  carried  through,  under  the  shade  of  the  great  oaks 
and  in  the  prettily  decorated  stand,  which  bore  at  the  front 
the  legend  "Welcome,"  made  in  laurel  leaves,  upon  a  white 
field. 

UNDER  THE  OAKS. 

It  was  during  a  temporary  lull  in  the  rain  that  the  regular 
exercises  appointed  for  the  afternoon  were  held.  The  rain 
had  made  the  benches  under  the  trees  rather  unpleasant,  but 
the  Bethesda  boys  are  not  particular  about  small  matters 
and  ranged  themselves  in  bright  rows  along  the  front. 

About  the  stand  were  many  visitors  and  all  gave  the  full- 
est attention  to  the  proceedings.  The  speakers  had  been 
delayed  by  the  storm,  having  started  to  Bethesda  in  a  buck- 
board,  and  the  exercises  in  the  grounds  were  following  an 
impromptu  service  that  had  been  held  indoors. 


36  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

COL.  ESTILL'S  REMARKS. 

When  the  attention  of  the  people  on  the  grounds  was  ob- 
tained Col.  Estill  came  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  and 
after  explaining  the  cause  of  the  delay,  said : 

"It  may  be  true  as  the  great  poet  said  that  'The  evil  that 
men  do  lives  after  them'  and  that  'The  good  is  oft  interred 
with  their  bones/  but  we  have  the  evidence  all  around  us 
here  to-day  that  the  good  that  George  Whitefield  did,  lives, 
and  this  evidence  has  been  accumulating  ever  since  his 
death. 

"The  record  is  not  at  hand,  but  it  is  estimated  that  this 
institution,  and  the  Union  Society  have  cared  for  at  least 
5,000  boys.  They  represent  generations  of  men  and  women 
scattered  over  a  large  part  of  the  world.  But  few  of  them 
may  have  become  known  to  fame,  but  from  what  we  know 
of  those  of  later  years  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the 
great  majority  of  them  played  their  part  well  in  life's 
drama.  From  one  act  of  Whitefield,  the  founding  of  this  in- 
stitution, has  resulted  a  great  amount  of  good.  Whitefield's 
life  was  full  of  good  deeds,  and  vast  indeed  must  have  been 
the  volume  of  good  that  lived  after  him,  and  still  lives. 

"It  was  on  Dec.  21,  1737,  that  a  license  was  issued  to 
Whitefield  in  London  by  the  trustees  of  the  colony  to  per- 
form ecclesiastical  duties  in  Georgia,  as  a  deacon  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  it  was  on  May  30,  1739,  that  the 
land  on  which  we  stand  was  granted  to  him  in  trust  for  the 
orphans  of  Georgia.  Thereafter,  though  far  away  in  other 
colonies,  or  in  distant  England,  the  heart  of  this  man  of  God, 
one  of  the  greatest  of  His  servants,  was  always  here  at 
Bethesda. 

"It  was  his  preaching  and  that  of  the  Wesleys,  that  gave 
new  life  to  English  Protestantism,  and  though  the  hard- 
worked  preacher  of  to-day  may  be  at  times  discouraged  by 
the  results  of  his  work,  the  mighty  religious  movement 
Whitefield  and  the  Wesleys  set  in  motion,  is  growing  in 
volume  and  strength,  and  men  and  women  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  are  becoming  better  in  consequence  of  it.  The  world 
is  better  to-day  than  it  was  yesterday,  and  will  be  better 
to-morrow  than  it  is  to-day ;  that  this  is  true  is  shown  by 
this  institution.  It  is  growing  steadily  and  is  being  carried  on 
as  Whitefield  planned.  The  means  to  support  it  are  forth- 
coming, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  money 
necessary  for  that  purpose  is  all  the  time  increasing.  If  the 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  37 

world  were  not  growing  better  this  institution  would  have 
been  abandoned  long  ago. 

"Although  it  was  Whitefield,  who  founded  Bethesda,  and 
although  it  is  his  name  that  will  always  be  associated  with 
it,  we  have  his  authority  for  the  statement  that  it  was 
Charles  Wesley  who  suggested  the  orphan  house.  White- 
field  and  the  Wesleys  differed  on  some  theological  ques- 
tions, but  they  were  in  harmony  in  their  efforts  to  make  man- 
kind better. 

"It  would  give  me  pleasure  to  say  much  more  in  honor 
and  praise  of  the  founder  of  Bethesda,  but  that  will  be  done 
much  more,  satisfactorily  and  eloquently  by  the  one 
chosen  to  address  you  on  this  occasion.  I  have  the 
pleasure  and  honor  to  introduce  to  you  the  Rev. 
Dr.  W.  W.  Pinson  of  Columbus,  Ga." 

WESLEY  AND  WHITEFIELD. 

Dr.  W.  W.  Pinson  came  forward  and  began  his  address 
by  telling  that  he  was  a  substitute,  and  therefore  a  great 
deal  should  not  be  expected  of  him.  His  address  was  replete 
with  excellent  thought,  and  carried  a  lesson  that  found  place 
in  the  hearts  of  all  of  his  hearers. 

Thoughts  similar  to  those  suggested  when  standing  near 
the  Alamo,  in  San  Antonio,  the  speaker  said,  came  when 
looking  upon  the  splendid  monument  to  the  work  of  White- 
field  at  Bethesda.  When  God  had  a  particularly  choice  gift 
for  man  He  selected  a  man  such  as  Whitefield  through  whom 
to  send  it. 

Having  been  asked,  in  the  absence  of  Bishop  Goodsell,  to 
speak  at  Bethesda  on  the  relations  of  Wesley  and  White- 
field,  Dr.  Pinson  briefly  compared  the  men,  one  the  ecclesias- 
tical statesman,  the  other  the  great  and  eloquent  preacher. 
From  history  it  was  shown  that  the  men  were  widely  dif- 
ferent in  habits,  in  the  college  life  and  work  and  studies.  And 
yet  they  were  the  greatest  friends  and  the  largest  help  to  each 
other. 

They  were  both  evangelists  and  had  the  same  ideas  of  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  salvation.  These  men  were  not 
reformers.  They  did  more  than  try  to  reform  men,  they 
wanted  to  save  them.  The  theology  of  Whitefield  and  Wes- 
ley were  different,  but  they  had  many  points  in  common  and 
did  much  for  each  other.  They  both  believed  that  the  Gos- 
pel was  for  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  and  they  nobly 
worked  for  the  uplifting  of  the  humble.  Wesley  and  White- 
field  each  considered  the  orphans  and  founded  orphanages. 


38  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

'The  idea  of  starting  an  orphanage  came  to  Whitefield 
after  seeing  the  children  who  were  left  fatherless  and  help- 
less in  Savannah,  perhaps  by  the  death  of  a  parent  at  the 
hands  of  the  Indians.  He  became  enthused  with  the  idea, 
and  went  to  England,  returning  with  money  enough  to 
build  the  orphan  house.  "It  was  aptly  called  Bethesda,"  as 
Wesley  said. 

Bethesda  was  the  one  monument  that  remained  to  tell 
of  Whitefield's  work,  for  while  he  had  converted  thousands 
in  his  meetings,  he  left  the  congregations  that  were  formed 
and  they  went  back  into  their  sins.  Discipline  is  necessary  in 
such  organization,  and  without  their  leader  and  left  to  them- 
selves, they  drifted  away  from  the  truth  an'd  from  their 
former  head. 

Dr.  Pinson  alluded  to  the  practice  of  building  monuments 
to  heroes  of  tented  fields  and  of  pioneers  in  industry  and 
trade,  and  said  that  it  was  a  good  thing — but  the  man  who 
preaches  to  the  multitudes  and  impresses  upon  the  minds  of 
men  the  principles  that  lead  to  heroism — he  who  teaches 
them  why  the  life  is  worth  the  living  and  how  to  die,  is  as 
deserving  of  a  monument  as  the  soldier,  or  stateman,  or 
financier. 

"Talking  with  a  little  child  on  the  streets  of  Savannah," 
said  the  speaker,  "I  asked  her  about  one  of  the  beautiful 
monuments  on  the  squares.  They  were  memorials  to  men 
who  had  fought  the  enemies  of  the  country.  'And  about 
the  Wesley  Monumental  Church,'  I  said,  'who  did  Wesley 
fight?'  The  little  girl  thought  a  moment  and  then  said  'the 
devil.'  '  These  men,  Wesley  and  Whitefield,  both  fought 
the  devil  and  well  deserved  monuments. 

Addressing  himself  particularly  to  the  boys,  who 
were  seated  in  front,  Dr.  Pinson  spoke  of  the  dif- 
ference that  was  now  evident  in  the  life  of  the 
average  boy.  The  tendency  to  move  into  the  cities 
had  changed  the  lives  of  the  boys  from  the  meadows 
and  lanes  to  the  dust  and  noise  of  the  cities,  and  the 
thousands  of  pitfalls  and  temptations  that  infest  a  city. 
The  danger  to  an  orphan  was  particularly  great.  In  Be- 
thesda the  most  faithful  attention  was  given,  and  the  boys 
should  feel  and  remember  that  each  kindly  look  and  each 
pleasant  word  of  correction  or  advice,  praise  or  encourage- 
ment, was  an  indication  of  the  fact  that  someone  was  taking 
an  interest  in  them.  The  fact  that  "somebody  cares"  should 
make  them  live  pure  and  be  upright  and  strive  to  be  a  credit 
to  the  institution  and  the  noble  men  whose  labors  for  hu- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  39 

manity  are  ended,  after  accomplishing  a  work  that  few  under- 
take. 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  REGRET. 

At  the  close  of  Bishop  Candler's  remarks  Dr.  Fullwood 
spoke  briefly  of  the  unavoidable  absence  of  Bishop  Goodsell 
of  Tennessee,  who  had  been  invited  to  deliver  the  address 
at  Bethesda,  but  was  detained  at  home  by  illness.  Reso- 
lutions of  regret  were  adopted  and  it  was  the  wish  of  the 
assemblage  that  the  address  prepared  by  Bishop  Goodsell 
be  secured  for  publication  in  the  reports  of  the  Wesley  Bi- 
Centenary. 

The  exercises  then  closed  with  the  benediction  pronounced 
by  Bishop  Candler. 

IMPROMPTU  EXERCISES. 

The  exercises  just  chronicled  were  not  the  first  held  at 
Bethesda  yesterday  afternoon,  although  including  the  regu- 
lar speakers  as  announced  in  the  programme.  It  happened 
that  Dr.  Pinson,  Col.  Estill  and  others  had  started  for  Be- 
thesda in  an  open  vehicle  and  were  held  up  at  a  wayside 
house  several  miles  from  their  destination.  A  considerable 
number  of  people  having  gathered  in  the  Bethesda  building 
and  becoming  convinced  that  the  rain  would  continue  ana 
the  speakers  expected  would  not  arrive,  decided  that  an  in- 
formal celebration  would  be  in  order. 

Rev.  A.  M.  Williams  invited  the  people  to  assemble  in 
the  west  dormitory,  which  had  been  prepared  with  seats, 
and  in  a  few  words  told  the  reason  of  the  gathering.  He 
then  read  a  portion  of  a  letter  from  Bishop  Goodsell  in 
which  he  expressed  the  greatest  regret  at  not  being  able  to 
attend  the  celebration  and  deliver  the  address  promised. 

This  was  followed  by  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  the  music  be- 
ing led  by  a  piano  and  cornet.  Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev. 
J.  O.  A.  Cook  and  then  Rev.  W.  A.  Huckabee,  was  intro- 
duced and  made  a  short  talk.  This  was  largely  directed  to 
the  boys,  who  were  all  seated  in  the  room  and  gave  full  at- 
tention. Mr.  Huckabee  said  that  John  Wesley  was  one  of 
three  great  men,  and  combined  in  his  personality  the  talents 
and  powers  of  Moses,  the  greatest  of  lawmakers  and  Paul, 
the  world's  greatest  theologian. 

Bishop  Gallaway  was  then  introduced  and  made  a  very  in- 
teresting address.  It  was  entirely  without  preparation,  and 
was  perhaps  more  of  Wesley  than  on  the  subject  which  had 


40  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

been  expected,  "Wesley  and  Whitefield."  The  life  and 
character  of  Wesley  was  dilated  upon  and  the  speaker  con- 
tended that  he  was  carefully  guarded  by  Providence  through 
many  trials  and  afflictions  and  preserved  to  a  ripe  old  age 
that  he  might  continue  his  work,  which  when  viewed  as  a 
whole  was  nothing  short  of  marvelous.  Even  in  his  friends 
Wesley  was  favored,  and  the  friendship  of  George  White- 
field  was  argued  to  have  been  of  the  greatest  value. 

In  conclusion,  Bishop  Gallaway  spoke  of  his  visit  to  the 
spot  where  had  stood  Pilate's  hall,  and  then  going  down  be- 
neath the  building  thereon  he  had  pressed  the  stones  that 
were  believed  to  have  formed  the  floor  upon  which  Christ 
had  passed,  the  "via  doloroso."  Standing  in  Bethesda  he 
felt  that  here  also  he  was  upon  sacred  soil,  and  would  fain 
touch  some  tree  or  stone  that  had  felt  the  hands  of  White- 
field. 

These  exercises  were  concluded  with  the  benediction  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Fullwood  of  Jacksonville,  Fla. 


Bishop  Goodsell. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 


ADDRESS  OF  BISHOP  GOODSELL. 


I  count  it  among  the  chief  honors  of  a  long  ministry  that 
I  am  invited  by  my  brethren  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South  to  speak  at  this  spot.  Toward  it  my  heart 
and  eyes  have  turned  for  many  years.  To-day  my  feet  touch 
.it  and  under  the  shadow  of  these  trees  my  heart  rejoices  in 
the  life  of  Whitefield ;  in  that  amazing  record  of  sermons, 
journeys,  benevolences,  of  which  this  Bethesda  is  but  a 
single  record.  This  institution  was  so  much  upon  his  heart 
that  all  cities,  towns  and  countries  where  he  preached  may 
be  said  to  have  aided  in  its  foundation  and  early  support. 
Money  flew  from  unwilling  pockets  to  this  spot,  drawn 
from  entranced  and  overwhelmed  hearers  of  all  grades  of  in- 
telligence. 

The  theme  on  which  I  have  been  asked  to  speak  is  "The 
Relation  between  Wesley  and  Whitefield ;"  relations  be- 
ginning in  the  aspirations  of  the  Holy  Club  at  Oxford ;  con- 
tinuing with  mutual  advantage  for  many  years ;  shrivelled  for 
a  time  by  the  heat  of  the  Calvinistic  controversy;  coming 
into  full  life  again  under  the  sweet  compulsion  of  Christian 
love  and  ending  only  with  the  death  of  Whitefield,  whose 
fame  was  secure  as  the  most  eloquent  evangelist  of  his 
age. 

This  great  genius  looked  upon  Charles  Wesley,  rather, 
than  upon  John,  as  his  spiritual  father.  The  name  of  Metho- 
dist, by  no  means  new  in  the  religious  world,  had  been  ap- 
plied to  Charles  Wesley  and  the  group  which  gathered 
about  him  while  John  was  absent  from  Oxford  at  Wroote. 

John  Wesley  was  older ;  more  logical ;  more  learned,  and 
had  earlier  felt  the  "agonizing"  which  opens  the  door  to 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  I  fancy  also  that  John's  aauiline  nose, 
sauare  chin  and  somewhat  thin  lips,  were  the  physical  signs 
of  a  certain  inborn  masterfulness,  which,  had  it  not  been 
restrained  by  grace,  could  easily  have  become  wilfulness 
and  tyranny.  Indeed,  I  believe  all  leadership  has  a  certain 
physical  basis.  I  know  no  man  with  an  incurving  or  re- 
trousse nose  and  retreating  chin  who  has  ever  been  able  to 
lead  others. 

This  may  be  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  compare  and  con- 
trast John  Wesley  and  Whitefield  as  to  their  physical  ap- 


44  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

pearance.  Wesley,  below  medium  height,  with  clean  cut 
features ;  with  no  roundness  or  corpulency,  showed  in  his 
extreme  neatness  and  almost  dapper  appearance,  the  influ- 
ence of  several  generations  of  cultivated  gentlemanly ;  not 
to  say  aristocratic  lineage. 

Whitefield  was  taller ;  stouter ;  with  less  refined  features. 
Unless  his  portraits  and  contemporary  squibs  belie  him  he 
had  a  cast  in  his  eye.  But  there  is  the  square  and  project- 
ing chin,  dominating  his  somewhat  pudgy  nose  and  prophe- 
sying the  indomitable  energy  with  which  he  fought  for  Be- 
thesda  and  attempted  at  the  same  time  the  evangelization  of 
the  English  speaking  world.  Whitefield  came  from  the 
family  of  a  wine  merchant,  afterwards  a  hotel  keeper,  and 
was  employed  in  the  humblest  office  of  the  hotel  at  a  time 
when  John  Wesley  was  at  school  and  ready  to  enter  Ox- 
ford. 

This  was  no  disadvantage  to  Whitefield  for  the  work  to 
which  God  was  calling  him.  John  Wesley's  self-will  and 
reliance  on  his  logical  faculty  lead  him  until  mellowed  by 
grace,  to  that  severity  of  speech  and  administration  which 
made  his  mission  to  Georgia  so  largely  a  failure.  I  can  not 
help  sympathizing  a  little  with  the  anger  of  Miss  Hopkey, 
afterward  Mrs.  Williamson  and  her  friends  over  his  dicta- 
torial proceedings  as  to  her  communion.  I  fear  had  I  been 
in  Savannah  then  I  should  have  felt  that  this  rigorous  ascetic 
and  masterful  rector  had  a  little  personal  spite  in  him,  per- 
haps unconscious,  toward  the  lady  who  married  another 
rather  than  himself.  Surely  we  must  all  feel  that  the  ele- 
ment of  tenderness  and  compassion  seems  absent  from  Wes- 
ley's ministry  until  that  "strange  warming  of  his  heart" 
which  followed  the  instructions  of  Peter  Bohler.  Wesley  by 
inheritance,  taste,  education,  was  originally  better  fitted  for 
the  pulpit  of  St.  Mary's  at  Oxford  than  for  preaching  to 
the  swart  faced  miners  of  Cornwell.  Until  his  conversion,  he 
seems  as  much  interested  in  the  lowly,  the  prisoner,  and  the 
convict  for  his  own  salvation  as  for  their's.  There  is  duty, 
obedience  but  no  filial  joy  in  his  service  of  humanity  in  the 
earlier  period  of  his  ministry.  Commenting  on  this  in  his 
later  years,  he  says,  "My  service  was  that  of  a  servant,  then, 
now  it  is  that  of  a  son." 

From  the  very  beginning  of  his  ministry  the  sympathies  of 
Whitefield  were  naturally  and  graciously  with  the  common 
people.  While  working  in  his  father's  hotel  in  the  humblest 
offices,  he  came  to  know  how  the  plainer  folk  think  and  feel. 
'This  experience  gjave  him  his  marvellous  aptitude  for  ad- 


WESLEY  SI-CENTENARY.  45 

dressing  the  multitudes.  He  knew  their  mental  attitude;  the 
play  of  their  emotions  and  their  coarse  vigor  of  expres- 
sion. He  knew  the  kind  of  anecdote  which  would  touch 
them  and  had  a  fine  dramatic  quality  in  his  narrations.  He 
could  thunder;  he  could  whisper.  The  whole  gamut  of  ex- 
pression was  his  by  instinctive  knowledge.  His  people  ran 
after  him  as  much  when  he  was  a  boy  of  one  and  twenty 
as  when  in  the  fullness  of  his  years  and  powers.  He  was  a 
born  preacher. 

What  a  comment  on  the  religious  conditions  of  the  Eng- 
lish Clergy  that  they  shut  one  after  another  their  churches 
against  him  on  account  of  "enthusiasm !"  Lacking  this  the 
English  Church  was  dying  of  dry  rot. 

The  churches  being  closed  Whitefield  is  forced  to  con- 
sider, seeing  a  thousand  people  trying  to  listen  outside  Ber- 
mondsey  Church,  whether  he  would  not  preach  to  them  from 
a  toombstone.  He  was  up  to  this  time  so  bound  by  pre- 
scription and  precedent,  that  he  dared  not  do  it  at  once ; 
some  friends  advising  him  that  preaching  out  of  doors  was 
a  mad  notion. 

The  churchless,  ungodly  colliers  of  Kingswood  first  heard 
him  preach  in  the  open  air.  Saturday,  Feb.  17,  1739,  he 
stood  on  a  mound  at  Rose  Green  and  preached  to  twro 
hundred,  later  to  several  hundred,  and  soon  to  twenty 
thousand.  How  picturesque  Whitefield's  account  of  the  be- 
ginning of  God's  work  among  the  colliers.  "The  first  dis- 
covery of  their  being  affected  was  to  see  the  white  gutters 
made  on  their  black  faces  by  their  tears." 

To  Whitefield,  Wesley  owed  his  introduction  to  open  air 
preaching.  Like  Whitefield  he  was  practically  shut  out 
from  the  Churches  and  for  the  same  reasons.  Whitefield 
desiring  to  raise  money  for  this  orphanage,  on  whose  site 
we  are,  sent  for  Wesley  .to  carry  on  the  work  he  had  begun, 
that  he  might  be  left  free  to  go  elsewhere  and  raise  money 
for  his  beloved  Bethesda.  Wesley  came,  shuddered  at  the  im- 
propriety of  field  preaching,  but  ventured  and  soon  seemed 
as  masterful  of  great  audiences  as  Whitefield  himself.  .  Of 
this  beginning  of  outdoor  preaching  at  Whitefield's  invi- 
tation, Wesley  says,  "I  could  scarce  reconcile  myself  at 
first  to  this  strange  way  of  preaching  in  the  fields,  having 
been  all  my  life,  till  very  lately,  tenacious  of  every  point  re- 
lating to  decency  and  order  that  I  should  have  thought  the 
saving  of  souls  almost  a  sin  if  it  had  not  been  done  in  a 
church."  The  outdoor  preaching  thus  begun  Wesley  con- 
tinued for  between  fifty  and  sixty  years. 


46  WESLEY  Bl-CENTENARY. 

If  we  desire  to  see  what  was  the  almost  universal  feeling 
of  the  clergy  with  regard  to  this  innovation  we  have  but  to 
read  from  a  magazine  of  date  1739.  "The  Wesleys  are 
more  guilty  than  Whitefield  because  they  are  men  of  more 
learning,  better  judgment  and  cooler  heads.  Let  them  go 
over  to  their  proper  companies,  to  their  favorites,  the  Dis- 
senters, and  utter  their  extempore  effusions  in  a  conventi- 
cle, but  not  be  suffered  in  our  churches  to  use  our  forms 
which  they  despise.  Let  them  carry  the  spirit  of  delusion 
among  their  brethren,  the  Quakers.  *  *  Let  not  such  bold 
movers  of  sedition  and  ringleaders  of  the  rabble,  to  the  dis- 
grace of  their  order  be  regularly  admitted  into  those  pul- 
pits which  they  have  taken  with  multitude,  and  tumult  or, 
as  ignominously  by  stealth." 

So,  forever,  the  names  of  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  are  en- 
rolled among  those  who  have  broken  through  hindering 
walls  of  prejudice  if  so  be  they  might  better  reach  souls ; 
so  forever  they  enter  history  together  as  martyrs  for  years 
to  exposure,  to  blows  on  the  body  and  to  the  harder  blows 
of  calumny  and  misrepresentation. 

Think  of  it!  In  sermons  from  St.  Mary's  and  other  pul- 
pits, Wesley  and  Whitefield  are  called  "deceivers,  babblers, 
insolent  pretenders,  men  of  capricious  humors,  spiritual 
sleight,  canting  craftiness,  novices  in  divinity ;  new  fangled 
teachers  setting  up  their  spiritual  conceits,"  one  sermon  de- 
clares that  "Whitefield  is  an  enthusiast  and  blasphemer  and 
blends  in  his  sermons  a  spice  of  the  Papist  and  the  Moham- 
medan." 

Up  to  the  year  of  Whitefield's  visit  to  America  in  1740, 
Whitefield  and  Wesley  were  not  only  harmonious  in  labor 
but  in  doctrine.  While  in  America  influential  and  learned 
Calvinistic  divines  put  Whitefield  in  the  way  of  reading 
the  chief  Puritan  authors.  This  was  followed  by  a  full  ac- 
ceptance of  their  doctrinal  teachings ;  not  only  full  but  en- 
thusiastic as  was  Whitefield's  way.  Wesley  was  promptly 
informed  of  his  change  of  view  in  a  letter  truly  warm- 
hearted and  fraternal.  Wesley  had  inherited  from  his  father 
and  mother  strong  convictions  against  the  doctrines  of  elec- 
tion and  reprobation  and  writes  Whitefield  opposing  them 
and  announcing  his  faith  in  the  privilege  of  Christians  to  be 
saved  not  from  sin  of  infirmity  but  from  voluntary  and  in- 
tentional breaking  of  God's  commandments."  Agreeing  with 
these  great  men  or  not,  we  can  not  fail  to  admire  the  spirit 
of  their  correspondence,  their  anxiety  to  avoid  collision  and 
their  evident  determination  to  stand  by  their  conscientious 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENABY.  47 

convictions.  Wesley  puts  the  case  both  kindly  and  precisely 
when  he  writes  Whitefield  "There  are  bigots,  both  for  pre- 
destination and  against  it.  God  is  sending  a  message  to 
those  on  either  side.  But  neither  will  receive  it  unless  from 
one  who  is  of  their  own  opinion.  Therefore,  for  a  time  you 
are  suffered  to  be  off  one  opinion  and  I  of  another.  But 
when  His  time  is  come  God  will  do  what  man  can  not,  name- 
ly, make  us  both  of  one  mind." 

The  publication  of  Wesley's  sermon  on  Free  Grace 
brought  about  the  division  which  both  deprecated,  resulting 
in  the  organization  of  Lady  Huntingdon's  connection  and 
other  sympathetic  bodies.  It  was  followed  by  a  long,  and  on 
the  part  of  some,  bitter  controversy  in  which  language  was 
used  which  seems  impossible  to  Christians.  The  two  great 
leaders,  Wesley  and  Whitefield,  seem  mostly  to  keep  within 
the  bounds  of  intense  but  Christian  feeling.  But  I  can  not 
say  so  much  for  some  others.  In  an  anonymous  pamphlet 
Whitefield  is  spoken  of  as  "a  man  of  heated  imagination  and 
full  of  himself."  "Very  hot,  very  self-sufficient  and  impatient 
of  contradiction." 

As  the  controversy  continues  it  gets  hotter  and  hotter.  It 
troubles  Whitefield  greatly,  not  only  in  his  heart  but  his 
finances.  He  had  on  this  spot  a  family  of  nearly  one  hundred 
to  maintain ;  over  a  thousand  pounds  in  their  behalf,  was 
threatened  with  arrest  for  a  bill  of  $300  drawn  in  favor  of 
the  orphan  house  by  William  Seward,  but  not  met  by  him. 
Those  who  sympathized  with  the  Wesleys  refused  longer  to 
aid  Whitefield. 

Yet  as  early  as  1742,  these  two  great  men,  in  whom  love 
abounded,  became  friends  again  without  change  of  opinion 
and  so  I  believe  remained  to  the  end.  Their  creed,  not  their 
hearts,  alone  separated  them. 

It  is  singular  that*  the  genius  of  Wesley  for  organization 
should  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  per- 
manence of  his  work  and  the  lack  of  organization  be  quoted 
as  the  cause  of  the  decay  of  Whitefield's  influence.  The 
fact  is,  that  Whitefield  and  his  coadjutors.  Harris,  Hum- 
phreys and  Cennick  began  to  organize  before  Wesley  did. 
The  most  tuccessful  and  permanent  result  seems  to  have 
been  secured  in  Wales.  But  it  is  also  true  that  in  evange- 
lizing, especially  in  America,  it  was  not  possible  for  White- 
field  to  organize  his  work  as  his  labors  were  in  connection 
with  the  pastors  of  the  colonial  churches,  and  with  their  co- 
operation. Wesley's  evangelizing  led  not  only  to  his  own  ex- 
clusion from  the  churches,  but  to  the  exclusion  of 


48  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

his  followers  as  well.  What  could  be  done  by  threats,  blows 
and  excommunication  to  break  up  the  Methodist  societies, 
whether  of  Whitefield  or  Wesley  was,  in  many  places,  done, 
no  doubt  honestly,  for  the  glory  of  God.  Wesley  and  White- 
field  were  partners  in  the  honors  of  misrepresentation,  ridi- 
cule, as  well  as  of  blows. 

Yet  it  is  evident  later  on  that  Whitefield  deliberately 
abandoned  the  idea  of  organizing  his  work,  for  he  says  in 
a  letter  to  Wesley :  "If  I  should  form  societies  I  have  not 
proper  assistants  to  take  care  of  them.  You,  I  suppose,  are 
for  settling  societies  everywhere." 

Our  hearts  may  well  be  touched  by  finding  John  and 
Charles  Wesley,  notwithstanding  the  old  differences,  secur- 
ing a  hearing  for  Whitefield  in  the  Societies  under  their 
care  at  a  time  when  Whitefield's  friends  fell  off,  and  his  au- 
diences were  numbered  by  scores,  instead  of  thousands. 
Mrs.  Charles  Wesley  meets  Whitefield  at  Newcastle,  and 
opens  the  pulpit  there  to  him.  This  added  to  Whitefield's 
consolation  as  at  Leeds  he  had  something  like  his  old  au- 
diences. 

Whitefield's  essential  nobility  is  nowhere  better  seen  than 
when  some  of  Wesley's  dissatisfied  helpers  write  to  him, 
complaining  of  Wesley's  discipline  and  expecting  encourage- 
ment in  their  discontent.  Whitefield  cuts  such  short  at 
once  by  saying:  "I  am  utterly  unconcerned  in  the  dis- 
cipline of  Mr.  Wesley's  Societies ;  I  can  be  no  competent 
judge  of  their  affairs.  If  you  and  the  preachers  were  to  meet 
together  more  frequently  and  tell  each  other  your  grievances 
and  opinions,  it  might  be  of  service." 

Again,  how  noble  is  Whitefield!  When  Charles  Wesley 
breaks  up  John's  marriage  to  Grace  Murray,  inflicting  upon 
John  the  greatest  sorrow  of  his  life,  it  is  Whitefield  who 
sends  for  Wesley — communicates  the  marriage,  com- 
forts the  broken  hearted  John,  and  when  Charles  breaks  out 
on  John  with  unchristian  violence  it  is  Whitefield  and  John 
Nelson  who  meet  and  pray  over  the  alienation  and  bring  the 
brothers  at  last  to  fall  upon  each  others  neck;  and  when 
John  Bennet,  who  had  captured  Grace  Murray,  comes  in, 
John  Wesley  does  not  upbraid  him,  but  kisse*  him.  He 
had  grown  in  grace  since  Savannah  days. 

Now  appear  beautiful  harmonies  and  co-operations.  One 
Sunday  Wesley  preaches  and  Whitefield  reads  the  prayers, 
and  the  next  Sunday  Wesley  reads  and  Whitefield  preaches. 
Wesley  is  large  enough  to  see  that  Whitefield  can  reach  some 
he  can  not  reach ;  for  he  writes :  "Even  Mr.  Whitefield's 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENAKY.  49 

little  improprieties,  both  of  language  and  manner,  were  a 
means  of  profiting  many  who  would  not  have  been  touched 
by  a  more  correct  discourse,  or  a  more  calm  and  regular 
manner  of  speaking." 

With  regard  to  the  introduction  of  slavery  and  of  spirit- 
uous liquors  into  this  colony  of  Georgia,  it  is  well  known 
that  Whitefield  and  Wesley  held  divergent  views. 

Once  again,  do  all  who  love  the  memory  of  these  great 
men  note  with  gladness  courtesies  between  them.  When 
Whitefield  was  building  his  tabernacle  in  1753,  Wesley  al- 
lowed him  the  use  of  his  London  Chapels. 

Wesley's  illness,  in  1/53,  gave  Whitefield  an  opportunity 
to  write  one  of  the  tenderest  letters  of  sympathy  and  con- 
fidence in  Wesley's  character  and  spiritual  prospects  that 
any  man  ever  wrote  to  another,  but  Wesley  long  survived 
the  man  who  wrote  it. 

When  it  became  evident  that  many  followers  of  WTesley 
felt  that  separation  from  the  Church  of  England  was  inevi- 
table and  forced  its  consideration  on  Mr.  Wesley,  White- 
field  is  brave  enough  to  speak  and  write  against  the  move- 
ment as  the  "work  of  that  devil  of  devils — self  love."  Nor 
could  Whitefield  sympathize  with  the  doctrine  of  sanctifica- 
tion  or  perfect  love  as  he  understood  it  to  be  taught  by  Wes- 
ley. As  in  the  writings  of  Romanic  so  also  in  Whitefield's; 
it  would  appear  that  Wesley's  views  were  not  understood 
by  either.  Thus  Romaine  accuses  Wesley  of  a  teaching 
perfection  out  of  Christ,  whereas  there  is  not  a  syllable 
from  Wesley's  pen  or  voice  which  does  not  make  a  per- 
fected love  the  gift,  and  proof  of  Christ's  power  and  presence. 

Yet  lack  of  sympathy  on  this  point  does  not  break  lov- 
ing relations.  Wesley  hears  of  Whitefield's  illness  and 
visits  him  to  find  him  at  50,  an  old  man  worn  out  in  his 
master's  service,  and  wonders  that  he  himself  at  63  is  with- 
out disorder  or  weakness.  "Whitefield,"  Wesley  says, 
"breathes  nothing  but  peace  and  love.  Bigotry  can  not 
stand  before  him." 

It  was,  no  doubt,  due  to  Whitefield's  influence  that  the 
Countess  of  Huntingdon  opened  the  doors  of  her  chapel  to 
John  Wesley.  They  had  been  for  years  closed  and  barred 
against  him.  Now,  Lady  Huntingdon  wished  to  ally  her- 
self with  John  and  Charles  Wesley  and  George  White- 
field  in  a  quartette  of  holy  toil.  Death  soon  took  White- 
field  from  the  alliance  and  then  bigotry  broke  it  up. 

Death  also  is  soon  to  break  up  the  friendship  and  the 
mutually  helpful  relations  of  the  two  great  souls.  Matters 


50  WESLEY  BI-CENTEXARY. 

at  Trevecca  College  shadow  their  public  unity.  But  the 
old  unity  of  heart  abides.  In  Feb.,  1769,  Wesley  writes:  "I 
had  one  more  agreeable  conversation  with  my  old  friend 
and  fellow  laborer,  George  Whitefield.  His  tone  appeared 
to  be  vigorous  still,  but  his  body  was  sinking  apace,  and  un- 
less God  interposes  by  His  mighty  hand  he  must  soon 
finish  his  labors."  Whitefield  had  six  months  more  of 
preaching  to  give  England.  He  complains  that  he  can 
preach  only  four  or  fiv  i  times  a  week !  Whitefield,  on  part- 
ing with  him,  pours  out  his  great  love  in  a  noble  farewell 
letter  and  sails  for  America. 

It  was  in  this  final  visit  that  he  endeavored  to  extend  this 
orphanage  into  a  college,  and  failed  because  he  could  not 
accept  certain  denominational  limitations.  But  he  built 
two  additional  wings  for  a  public  academy  and  opened  the 
new  building,  preaching  before  the  Governor,  a  month  be- 
fore John  Wesley's  letter  reached  him  warning  him  against 
any  change  from  the  original  design  of  an  orphanage. 
Whitefield  passed  northward,  preaching  a  two  hours  ser- 
mon at  Exeter,  and  is  next  morning  dead,  leaving  as  his 
latest  utterance,  one  of  the  noblest  Christian  sentences : 
"Lord,  I  am  weary  in  thy  work ;  not  of  thy  work."  Which- 
ever of  the  two  friends  survived  was  to  preach  the  funeral 
sermon  of  the  other.  So  Wesley,  to  an  audience  which  filled 
the  chapel  at  three  for  a  service  at  four,  summed  up  his  great 
friend  in  these  words :  "His  was  unparalleled  zeal,  indefatiga- 
ble activity,  tender  heartedness  to  the  afflicted ;  charita- 
bleness toward  the  poor,  the  most  generous  friendship,  nice 
and  unblemished  modesty,  frankness  and  openness  of  con- 
versation, unflinching  courage  and  steadfastness  in  what- 
ever he  undertook  for  the  Master's  sake." 

Worthy  of  this  is  a  passage  in  Whitefield's  will:  "I  also 
leave  a  mourning  ring  to  my  honored  and  dear  friends,  John 
and  Charles  Wesley  in  token  of  my  indissoluble  union  with 
them  in  heart  and  Christian  affection  notwithstanding  our 
differences  in  judgment  about  some  particular  points  of  doc- 
trine." 

In  the  presence  of  this  great  love  between  the  two 
greatest  evangelist  sand  existing  in  a  century  when  contro- 
versy was  to  the  last  degree  irreligious  in  spirit,  though 
religious  in  name,  our  hearts  are  melted,  and  over  denomi- 
national barriers  the  tide  of  love  flows,  hiding,  and  we 
hope  wasting  them,  "until  we  all  come  into  the  unity  of  the 
spirit  and  the  bond  of  peace." 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  51 

Whitefield's  body  lies  in  one  continent  and  Wesley's  in 
another,  but  their  souls  have  met  in  paradise.  The  paths 
of  all  Christians  come  together  at  the  gate  of  the  City  of 
God. 

The  modern  writers  on  Wesley  and  Whitefield  declare 
that  their  greatness  is  demonstrated  by  this — that  no  one 
of  their  sons  in  the  gospel  has  ever  equalled  them  in  labor 
and  evangelistic  success.  As  to  Wesley  considering  his 
learning,  his  executive  ability,  his  preaching  power  and  his 
65  years  of  toil  the  statement  must  be  accepted  as  true.  But 
Francis  Asbury,  though  the  same  years  were  not  granted 
him  and  though  not  his  equal  in  scholarship,  seems  to  me 
fully  Wesley's  equal  in  ceaseless  evangelistic  and  pastoral 
activity.  The  conditions  under  which  he  labored  were  in 
some  respects  more  difficult  than  those  of  Wesley.  Fewer 
mobs  attacked  him  but  the  hardships  of  a  new  country  were 
equally  wearing.  In  tact,  knowledge  of  men,  and  in  grac- 
ious submission  to  the  growth  of  the  spirit  of  self-govern- 
ment and  discipline,  he  seems  to  me  to  have  been  a  stronger 
man  than  Wesley.  He  seems  also  to  have  done  his  work 
so  wisely  in  relation  to  all  fellow  laborers,  male  and  female, 
that  few  found  occasion  for  criticism. 

So  we  may  feel  that  Dwight  L,.  Moody  had  a  public  hear- 
ing and  success  in  evangelistic  work  in  both  hemispheres, 
approaching,  if  not  surpassing,  those  of  Whitefield.  No 
one  can  compare  the  two  men  in  oratory  or  in  education. 
But  there  is  a  singular  resemblance  in  the  outcome  of  their 
careers.  The  work  of  Whitefield  and  of  Moody  has  been 
absorbed  in  the  life  of  the  churches  and  is  chiefly  unrecorded. 
Some  few  properties  of  Whitefield  in  operation  and  gather- 
ing remain  as  his  monuments.  Bethesda  is  the  oldest,  and 
is  likely  through  the  care  ond  cooperation  of  Savannah  citi- 
zens, to  be  among  the  most  permanent.  Northfield  stands 
as  the  chief  visible  monument  of  Moody's  labors. 

But  Wesley's  organization  of  his  forces  and  his  habit  of 
securing  for  them  a  local  habitation  and  a  name  has  led  to 
property  foundations  in  churches,  schools  and  benevolent 
institutions  which  must  approach  in  total  two  hundred  and 
twenty  millions  of  dollars.  And  the  impulse  for  the  conse- 
crating of  property  among  his  followers  is  having  its  largest 
results  to-day. 

But  the  most  of  the  sons  of  the  two  great  souls  whose 
relations  we  have  been  considering,  must  admit  the  great 
distance  between  them  and  us  as  to  abundance  of  labors 
and  proportion  of  results. 


52  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

Yet,  may  i':  not  be  that  while  we  recognize  this,  "the  spirit 
of  power"  may  fall  upon  us  and  give  to  those  who  are  proud 
to  enroll  themselves  as  their  sons  in  the  gospel,  the  same 
hunger  for  souls,  the  same  undaunted  courage,  the  same 
ceaseless  activity  and  similar  success  in  turning  men  to  God. 
God  grant  it  for  Christ's  sake. 


Charles  Wesley. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  55 


CHARLES  WESLEY. 


When  John  Wesley  came  to  America  he  was  accompanied 
by  his  brother  Charles.  While  John  Wesley  was  to  be  a 
missionary  to  the  Indians  and  minister  of  the  congregation 
at  Savannah,  Charles  Wesley  was  to  act  as  private  secretary 
to  Mr.  Oglethorpe  and  to  conduct  the  services  at  Frederica. 
The  two  brothers  worked  together  in  the  establishment  of 
Methodism  and  the  promotion  of  the  great  revival.  In  con- 
nection with  the  celebration  in  Savannah  it  was  fortunate 
that  Charles  Wesley's  .work  should  find  such  a  competent 
eulogist  as  Bishop  Galloway. 


CHARLES  WESLEV,  THE  HYMNIST  OF  THE  AGES. 


By  Bishop  Charles  B.  Galloway, 

Charles  Wesley,  the  poet  of  Methodism  and  the  hymnist 
of  the  ages,  was  the  eighteenth  in  a  family  of  nineteen  child- 
ren, born  to  Samuel  and  Susanna  Wesley.  For  several  weeks 
he  laid  wrapped  up  in  wool,  more  dead  than  alive,  and  never 
uttered  a  cry  until  the  time  when  he  should  have  been  born. 
This  was  rather  an  unpromising  beginning  for  one  who  was 
to  be  a  chief  actor  in  a  spiritual  revolution  that  was  to  save 
the  Church  from  deadness  and  the  nation  from  anarchy,  and 
was  to  rank  in  importance  the  career  of  the  Elder  Pitt  and 
the  "most  dazzling  episodes  in  the  reign  of  George  II." 

Out  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  homes  known  to  Eng- 
lish history  this  gifted  singer  of  the  centuries  came.  It  was 
not  a  mansion  of  wealth  and  worldly  power,  but  a  cottage 
of  culture  and  piety — a  home  of  high  thinking  and  humble 
living.  It  was  a  simple  ivy-covered  rectory  in  a  far-away 
obscure  northern  village,  but  its  fame  has  gone  out  through 
all  the  earth  and  its  influence  will  be  felt  to  the  end  of  time. 
In  all  England,  no  castle  of  king,  or  hall  of  noble  or  palace  of 
lord,  either  temporal  or  spiritual,  ever  gave  shelter  to  such 
a  family  of  sons  and  daughters  as  did  the  rectory  at  Ep- 
worth.  His  honored  father,  the  earnest,  toilsome  rector,  was 
as  learned  as  he  was  devout,  and  as  industrious  as  he  was 


56  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

heavenly-minded.  His  mother,  the  real  matriarch  of  Metho- 
dism, was  brilliant  in  intellect,  remarkably  cultured,  as 
strong-willed  as  John  Knox,  and  one  of  the  most  perfectly 
poised  characters  in  history.  From  such  a  parentage  came 
the  two  remarkable  .brothers  who  were  to  be  the  great 
apostles  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  best  blood  of  Eng- 
land flowed  in  their  noble  veins,  and  from  both  paternal  and 
maternal  ancestry  they  inherited  the  most  fearless  and  intrep- 
id spiritual  knighthood  of  the  generations. 

No  wonder  Providence  marked  this  young  man  for  con- 
spicuous service  in  a  great  forward  movement.  He  was 
born  to  high  place  and  enduring  influence  and  undying  fame. 
Himself  not  the  wisest  leader,  he  ensured  the  successful  lead- 
ership of  his  brother.  Though  not  the  ablest  commander, 
he  was  an  expert  chief  of  staff.  He  might  not  plan  a  cam- 
paign as  wisely  or  lead  his  forces  to  battle  as  skillfully  as 
did  his  apostle  brother,  but  he  could  and  did  beat  the  sacred 
reveille  and  sing  the  divine  Marseilles  that  stirred  the  heroic 
blood  of  the  legions  and  made  them  march  to  victory  with 
its  dactyl  notes  upon  their  lips. 

The  names  of  these  two  wonderful  brothers  will  ever 
be  linked  in  immortal  wedlock.  They  wore  double  stars  some- 
what different  in  size  and  brilliancy,  but  whose  arms  were 
filled  with  light  from  the  same  law  of  righteousness,  and  are 
shining  upon  the  world  with  an  ever  increasing  splendor. 
The  history  of  one  cannot  be  written  without  the  story  of 
the  other  being  told.  They  walked  and  wrought  and  suf- 
fered together,  sustained  by  the  same  spirit,  inspired  by 
the  same  holy  purpose  and  inflamed  by  the  same  quenchless 
zeal.  Their  interdependence  was  beautiful  and  providential. 
They  often  differed  widely  in  opinion,  but  were  never  sepa- 
rated in  heart ;  and  their  very  differences  seemed  to  broad- 
en the  charity  of  the  brothers  and  heighten  their  admiration 
for  the  honesty  and  fidelity  of  each  other.  Though  their 
opinions  often  differed,  their  affections  never  failed.  In  his 
last  loving  letter  to  his  honored  brother,  Charles  reiterated 
this  statement,  "stand  to  your  own  proposal ;  let  us  agree 
to  differ." 

And  he  would  never  brook  the  slightest  suggestion  from 
any  one,  who  sought  to  underrate  his  brother  or  aleniate 
their  affection.  On  the  back  of  a  letter  received  from  the 
Countess  of  Huntington  he  made  this  endorsement,  "un- 
answered by  John  Wesley's  brother."  He  declined  to  write 
an  epitaph  for  Hervey's  tomb,  because  he  thought  the  de- 
ceased had  done  a  "great  wrong  to  John  Wesley's  name." 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  57 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  entered  Christ  Church  College, 
at  Oxford,  "a  sprightly,  rollicking  young  man,  with  more 
genius  than  grace."  The  account  of  his  first  years  at  that 
ancient  and  historic  seat  of  learning  must  be  given  by  him- 
self :  "My  first  year  at  college  I  lost  in  diversions ;  the  next 
I  set  myself  to  study.  Diligence  led  me  into  serious  think- 
ing. I  went  to  the  weekly  sacrament,  and  persuaded  two 
or  three  young  students  to  accompany  mt,  and  to  observe 
the  method  of  study  prescribed  by  the  statutes  of  the  universi- 
ty. This  gave  me  the  harmless  name  of  Methodist.  In  half 
a  year  (after  this)  my  brother  left  his  curacy  at  Epworth  and 
came  to  our  assistance.  We  then  proceeded  regularly  in 
our  studies,  and  in  doing  what  good  we  could  to  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men." 

Writing  to  his  brother  John,  before  he  returned  to  take 
up  his  residence  as  fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  he  says :  "It 
is  owing,  in  a  great  measure,  to  somebody's  prayers — my 
mother's  most  likely — that  I  am  come  to  think  as  I  do." 

Charles  Wesley  was  an  accurate  scholar  and  a  learned 
man.  His  genius  for  acquiring  language  was  phenomenal. 
Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew  and  French  he  learned  readily.  He 
spoke  Latin  fluently  and  with  force.  With  rare  histrionic 
power  he  would,  at  times,  quote  the  most  sublime  passages  of 
Homer  and  Virgil,  and  recite  with  unrivaled  taste  and  spirit 
the  noble  Odes  of  Horace.  It  is  said  that  "when  Indevine, 
the  drunken  captain  with  whom  he  sailed  from  Charleston 
treated  him  insultingly.  Charles  Wesley  defended  him- 
self by  repeating  Virgil.  And  in  the  same  way  he  cooled 
the  rage  or  quelled  the  spirit  of  his  virago  sister-in-law, 
Mrs.  John  Wesley. 

When  he  became  a  college  tutor,  his  father  wrote  him  a 
playful  letter,  indicating  the  range  of  his  studies  and  scholar- 
ship, from  which  are  these  sentences:  "As  for  yourself,  be- 
tween logic,  grammar,  and  mathematics,  be  idle  if  you  can. 
I  give  my  blessing  to  the  Bishop  for  having  tied  you  a  little 
faster,  by  obliging  you  to  rub  up  your  Arabic.  *  *  * 
You  are  now  launched  fairly,  Charles.  Hold  up  your  head 
and  swim  like  a  man,  and  when  you  cuff  the  man  beneath 
you,  say  to  it,  much  as  another  hero  did, — • 

"Carolum  relis,  et  Caroli  fortunam."  * 
But  always  keep  your  eye  fixed  above  the  pole-star,  and 
so  God  send  you  a  good  voyage  through  the  troublesome 
sea  of  life,  which  is  the  hearty  prayer  of  your  loving  father." 

*"Thou  carriest  Charles  and  Charles's  fortune." 


58  WESLEY  BF-CENTENARY. 

By  a  special  and  gracious  providence  Charles  Wesley  was 
saved  from  the  calamity  of  great  wealth.  While  yet  a  hand- 
some and  sprightly  boy,  a  student  in  Westminster  School, 
Mr.  Garrett  Wesley,  of  Dougan  Castle,  Ireland,  a  man  of 
immense  fortune,  set  his  heart  upon  making  him  the  son 
of  his  home,  and  heir  of  his  vast  estates.  By  strong  argu- 
ment with  the  father  and  earnest  entreaty  with  the  bril- 
liant son,  he  sought  to  make  him  the  noble  lord  of  his  Irish 
castle.  But  after  several  month's  respectful  consideration, 
the  thoughtful  boy  declined  the  generous  offer,  and  deter- 
mined to  share  the  humbler  fortunes  of  the  Epworth  rectory. 
That  was  a  wise  conclusion,  and  a  providential  escape.  Had 
the  offer  been  accepted,  riches  and  worldly  splendor  might 
have  come  to  the  Wesley  family,  but  the  glory  of  his  genius 
would  probably  never  have  been  known,  and  his  inspired 
measures  would  not  still  be  making  music  down  the  genera- 
tions. 

And  in  after  years,  when  his  fame  had  filled  the  continent, 
he  declined  a  similar,  tempting  offer.  A  lady  of  large  for- 
tune, who  had  for  some  reason  become  alienated  from  her 
family,  desired  to  make  him  the  inheritor  of  her  vast  treasure. 
With  most  persuasive  eloquence  did  she  try  to  prevail  upon 
him  to  accept,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  When  advised  by 
friends  to  accept  the  fortune  and  then  distribute  it  to  the 
natural  heirs,  he  said  with  vigor :  "That  is  a  trick  of  the 
devil,  but  it  won't  do.  I  know  what  I  am  now ;  but  I  do  not 
know  what  I  should  be  if  I  were  thus  made  rich."  And 
throughout  life  he  was  an  unselfish,  unworldly  singularly 
consecrated  Christian  minister.  He  declined  a  living  of  500 
pounds  a  year,  choosing  rather  to  live  without  a  fixed  in- 
come and  remain  with  the  people  called  Methodists. 

Of  his  coming  to  Georgia,  as  the  private  secretary  of  Gov. 
Oglethorpe,  and  the  months  spent  here,  mostly  at  Frederica, 
but  little  need  be  said.  That  was  a  valuable,  but  unhappy 
chapter,  in  the  life  of  the  laureate  of  Methodism.  It  was 
little  more  than  "one  continued  course  of  vexation  and  sor- 
row." His  severe  discipline  and  spiritual  rigidness  excited 
opposition,  and  for  awhile  he  suffered  the  disfavor  and  per- 
secution of  the  Governor  himself.  But  never  for  a  moment 
did  he  waver  in  his  line  of  conduct  or  conceptions  of  duty. 
His  biography  tells  us  that  "he  conducted  four  religious 
services  every  day,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  chose  and 
had  leisure  to  attend,  and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  an 
extemporary  exposition  of  the  daily  lessons  at  the  morning 
and  evening  prayer.  These  services  were  conducted  in  the 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  59 

open  air  when  the  weather  would  permit ;  and  as  the  people 
had  no  public  clock  to  guide  them,  (for  as  yet  they  dwelt 
in  tents,  having  no  houses)  nor  any  'church-going  bell'  to 
summon  them  to  their  devotions,  they  were  apprized  of  the 
hour  of  prayer  by  the  sounding  of  the  drum." 

In  his  journal  there  is  this  entry :  ''July  26.  The  words 
which  concluded  the  lesson  and  my  stay  in  Georgia,  were, 
'Arise,  let  us  go  hence.'  Accordingly  at  twelve  I  took  my 
final  leave  of  Savannah.  When  the  boat  put  off  I  was  sur- 
prised that  I  felt  no  more  joy  in  leaving  such  a  scene  of 
sorrows." 

The  great  event  in  Charles  Wesley's  life  was  his  glorious 
conversion  under  the  spiritual  tutelage  of  a  simple-hearted 
Moravian  named  Bray,  whom  he  gratefully  refers  to  as  "a 
poor  ignorant  mechanic  who  knows  nothing  but  Christ ;  yet 
in  knowing  him  knows  and  discerns  all  things,"  He  graspe: 
the  great  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  only,  and  it  be- 
came his  own  conscious,  joyous,  rapturous  experience.  This 
was  the  true  starting  point  of  his  wonderful  heroic  history. 
Now  he  began  to  preach  like  an  apostle  and  sing  like  a 
seraph.  His  marvellous  eloquence  attracted  eager  thousands 
of  every  rank  and  age,  and  he  sang  in  strains  almost  divine 
of  the  uttermost  power  of  redeeming  grace.  So  completely 
was  he  filled  with  the  spirit  of  his  Lord — so  entirely  under 
the  imperial  constraint  of  His  love — so  eagerly  bent  on  his 
one  work  of  seeking  and  saving  the  lost — that  nothing  so  en- 
raptured his  great  heart  as  the  redemption  of  a  soul.  On 
witnessing  the  joyful  conversion  of  his  friend  Edward  Perro- 
net,  he  exultantly  exclaimed,  "A  soul  triumphing  in  its  first 
love  is  a  spectacle  for  men  and  angels !  It  makes  me  for- 
get my  own  sorrows  and  carry  the  cross  of  life  without 
feeling  it."  And  by  the  way,  that  young  man,  became  the 
author  of  Coronation, 

"All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name." 

One  of  the  grandest  hymns  in  any  language  or  written  by 
any  inspired  laureate  of  the  ages. 

Charles  Wesley  was  an  extraordinary  preacher,  magnetic 
and  attractive,  often  soaring  into  the  realm  of  genuine  elo- 
quence, and  always  exhibiting  the  splendid  qualities  of  a 
real  master  of  assemblies.  He  excelled  in  the  power  of  con- 
densed and-  luminous  statement.  Vast  multitudes  crowded 
to  his  ministry  and  were  entranced  by  the  charm  and  elo- 
quence of  his  graceful  periods.  On  one  occasion  he  wrote : 
"My  congregation  was  less  by  a  thousand  or  two  through 
George  Whitefield's  preaching  to-day  at  Haworth.  Between 


60  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

four  and  five  thousand  were  left  to  receive  my  warning." 
When  asked  what  were  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  the 
two  remarkable  brothers,  as  preachers,  the  Rev.  Henry 
Moore,  biographer  and  literary  legatee  of  John  Wesley,  re- 
plied :  "John's  preaching  was  all  principles ;  Charles's  was 
all  aphorism."  He  had  not  the  magnificent  oratorial  gifts 
of  George  Whitefield  or  the  striking  expository  genius  of 
his  brother  John,  but  he  excelled  them  both  in  the  directness 
and  deadly  aim  of  his  appeals  and  warnings.  One  biographer 
says  that  at  times,  under  the  spell  of  his  resistless  eloquence, 
almost  the  entire  congregation  would  fall  on  their  knees  or 
lay  prostrate  on  their  faces,  with  the  prayer  of  a  divine  agony 
upon  their  mourning  lips.  While  preaching  in  the  open  air 
on  one  occasion,  at  Bristol,  a  man  in  the  vast  congregation 
whose  conscience  was  pierced  by  the  resistless  power  of  the 
truth,  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "What  do  you  mean  by  look- 
ing at  me?  and  directing  yourself  to  me?  and  telling  me  I 
shall  be  damned?" 

His  was  an  ardent  and  impulsive  nature,  easily  impressed 
and  capable  of  intense  feeling.  This  led  him  at  times  into 
strange  contradictions,  but  there  was  never  the  slightest 
impeachment  of  his  perfect  honesty  and  sincerity.  For  in- 
stance in  his  earlier  religious  inquiries  he  was  strenuously 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  instantaneous  conversion,  but 
soon  afterwards  became  its  impassioned  advocate.  Refer- 
ring to  a  certain  meeting  he  said :  "We  sang  and  fell  into 
a  dispute  whether  conversion  was  gradual  or  instantaneous. 
My  brother  was  very  positive  for  the  latter,  and  very  shock- 
ing, I  was  much  offended  at  his  worse  than  unedifying  dis- 
course. I  insisted  a  man  need  not  know  when  he  first  had 
faith.  His  obstinacy  in  favoring  the  contrary  opinion,  drove 
me  from  the  room."  Within  three  weeks  after  that  "re- 
ligious fracas,"  Charles  Wesley  changed  his  opinions  entire- 
ly and  began  to  pity  and  upbraid  those  who  held  his  former 
views. 

He  was  a  man  of  wonderful  and  unawed  courage.  In 
the  discharge  of  his  apostolic  duties  he  seemed  to  have  no 
sense  of  fear.  He  was  often  jubilant  in  the  presence  of  dan- 
ger, and  when  the  mob  howled  loudest  he  seemed  calmest 
and  most  unconcerned.  The  promise  of  a  prison  could  not 
restrain  him,  *1;"  threat  of  'knth  did  not  dctrtr  him,  and  when 
blood  was  flowing  freely  from  wounds  received  at  the  hands 
of  the  mob,  he  led  the  congregation  that  refused  to  disperse, 
in  joyously  singing  the  praise  of  God.  No  more  heroic  spirit 
ever  led  the  legions  of  his  Lord  to  battle  and  to  victory. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  61 

The  fierceness  of  the  persecutions  he  suffered  make  us 
wonder  at  the  bitterness  of  the  human  heart  when  set  on 
fire  by  passion  and  prejudice.  Government  officers  and 
worldly  clergymen,  joined  with  wicked  ruffians  in  cruel  as- 
sault upon  the  Lord's  anointed.  Rioters  at  his  meetings 
were  once  arraigned  in  court.  Instead  of  just  and  swift 
punishment,  all  were  dismissed,  and  the  grand  jury  made 
this  deliverance :  "  We  find  and  present  Charles  Wesley  to 
be  a  person  of  ill-fame,  a  vagabond,  and  a  disturber  of  His 
Majesty's  peace ;  and  we  pray  he  may  be  transported." 

Charles  Wesley  married  Miss  Sarah  Gwynne,  who  lived 
at  Garth,  Wales.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  when  Mr. 
Gwynne,  the  father  of  this  fair  young  woman,  first  met  the 
talented  famous  Methodist,  he  had  a  warrant  ready  in  his 
pocket  to  send  him  to  jail.  He  concluded,  however,  to  hear 
him  first.  The  eloquent  preacher  was  never  more  powerful 
and  persuasive ;  the  message  was  sealed  to  his  redemption, 
and  instead  of  committing  the  fearless  young  evangelist  to 
prison,  he  invited  him  to  his  palatial  home,  had  him  preach 
in  the  parish  Church,  and  after  a  time  gave  him  his  beauti- 
ful daughter's  hand  in  holy  matrimony.  When  the  unique 
marriage  contract  was  arranged,  Miss  Gwynne  agreed, 
among  other  things,  that  Charles  Wesley  should  continue  his 
vegetable  diet  and  his  traveling. 

That  certainly  was  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  mar- 
riage scenes  in  all  history.  The  joyful  hymn  sung  on  the  oc- 
casion was  written  by  Charles  Wesley  himself.  The  happy 
bridegroom  and  ecstatic  poet,  gives  this  pious  and  character- 
istic account  of  the  interesting  event : 

"Not  a  cloud  was  to  be  seen  from  morning  till  night.  I 
rose  at  four ;  spent  three  and  a  half  hours  in  prayer,  or 
singing  with  my  brother.  At  eight  I  led  my  Sally  to  Church. 
My  brother  joined  our  hands.  It  was  a  most  solemn  sea- 
son of  love.  I  never  had  more  of  the  divine  presence  at  the 
sacrament.  My  brother  gave  out  the  following  hymn : 
"Come,  thou  everlasting  Lord." 

"He  then  prayed  over  us  in  strong  faith.  We  walked  back 
to  the  house  and  joined  again  in  prayer.  Prayer  and 
thanksgiving  was  our  whole  employment.  We  were  cheer- 
ful, without  mirth,  serious  without  sadness." 

What  a  unique  wedding  occasion  that  must  have  been ! 
Not  many  men  are  married  to  the  music  of  their  own  me- 
lodious measures.  And  their  whole  after  life  was  a  song.  No 
two  hearts  ever  walked  through  life  together  in  more  rythmic 
harmony.  For  forty  eventful  years  they  joyfully  shared  to- 


62  WESLEY  B [-CENTENARY. 

gether  the  vicissitudes  of  earth,  animated  by  the  same  high 
purpose,  and  dominated  by  the  same  divine  inspiration. 

Charles  Wesley  had  more  rigid  and  straightened  views  of 
ecclesiastical  order  than  his  brother,  and  doubtless  a  more 
ardent  attachment  to  the  Church  of  England.  He  inveighed 
rigorously  against  certain  acts  that  logically  meant  an  event- 
ual separation  from  the  Church,  and  sought  by  every  means 
in  his  power  to  arrest  any  tendency  to  independent  organiza- 
tion. At  the  same  time,  he  was  the  first  and  mightiest  of 
field  preachers,  did  not  hesitate  to  preach  in  Methodist 
Chapels  during  church  hours,  was  among  the  bravest  to  en- 
counter persecution  and  threatened  death,  was  tireless  and 
fearless  in  his  flaming  evangelism. 

Charles  was  an  ardent  churchman,  but  not  an  ecclesiastical 
statesman.  He  dreaded  schism  scarcely  less  than  mortal 
sin.  As  another  expressed  it,  he  feared  that  Methodism 
would  become  "a  seminary  for  Dissenters."  He  said  patheti- 
cally, "My  soul  abhors  the  thought  of  separating  from  the 
Church  of  England."  He  closed  a  letter  to  John  Nelson,  on 
one  occasion,  with  these  ominous  words :  "John,  I  love  thee 
from  my  heart ;  yet  rather  than  see  thee  a  Dissenting  minis- 
ter, I  wish  to  see  thee  smiling  in  thy  coffin."  He  passion- 
ately opposed  any  tendency  toward  separation  from  the 
Church  cf  Eneland,  was  shocked  at  his  brother  exercising 
the  right  of  ordination,  and  would  not  tolerate  the  idea  of 
Methodist  preachers  administering  the  sacraments.  And  at 
last,  greatly  to  the  grief  of  his  brother,  crave  direction  that 
he  should  not  be  buried  at  City  Road  Chapel,  because  the 
ground  had  not  been  consecrated.  He  made  the  Church 
paramount.  He  would  have  abolished  the  Methodist  So- 
cieties rather  than  see  them  separate  from  the  Establish- 
ment. John,  on  the  other  hand,  said :  "Church  or  no 
Church  we  must  attend  to  the  work  of  saving  souls." 

Of  John  Wesley's  ordinations,  which  so  distressed  his  im- 
pulsive brother,  we  had  best  take  his  own  clear  and  strong 
statement.  Certainly  he  never  entertained  the  slightest 
doubt  as  to  the  authority  and  propriety  of  the  course  pur- 
sued. He  said  himself,  "I  firmly  believe  I  am  a  scriptural 
episcopos  as  much  as  any  man  in  England,  for  the  uninter- 
rupted succession  I  know  to  be  a  fable,  which  no  man  ever 
did  or  can  prove."  And  again  he  said,  "The  plea  of  divine 
right  for  diocesan  Episcopacy  was  never  heard  of  in  the 
primitive  Church." 

So  John  Wesley,  in  response  to  the  urgent  appeal  from 
America,  ordained  Thomas  Coke  superintendent  or  Bishop. 


WESLEY  BI-CKNTENARY.  63 


on  the  2nd  of  Sept.,  1784,  and  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thomas 
Vasey  elders. 

Against  this  extraordinary  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  pre- 
rogative Charles  Wesley  rigorously  protested.  He  denounc- 
ed the  ordinations  as  schism,  and  tragically  predicted  that 
Coke  would  return  from  his  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Baltimore  to  "make  us  all  Dissenters  here."  Writing  to 
his  brother,  he  uttered  this  pathetic  lamentation :  "Alas ! 
What  trouble  are  you  preparing  for  yourself,  as  well  as  for 
me,  and  for  your  oldest,  truest  friends !  Before  you  have 
quite  broken  down  the  bridge,  stop  and  consider!  If  your 
sons  have  no  regard  for  you,  have  some  for  yourself.  Go 
to  your  grave  in  peace ;  at  least  suffer  me  to  go  first,  before 
this  ruin  is  under  your  hand." 

He  anathematized  this  act  of  his  brother  is  these  lines : 

"Since  Bishops  are  so  easy  made, 

By  man's  or  woman's  whim, 
Wesley  his  hands  on  Coke  has  laid ; 

But  who  laid  hands  on  him." 

In  his  denunciation  of  the  fable  of  tactual  succession,  Wes- 
ley had  the  support  of  many  distinguished  churchmen. 
Chillingworth  said,  "I  am  fully  persuaded  there  hath  been 
no  such  succession."  Bishop  Stillingfleet  declares  that 
"this  succession  is  as  muddy  as  the  Tiber  itself."  Archbishop 
Whatley  says,  "There  is  not  a  minister  in  all  Christendom 
who  is  able  to  trace  up,  with  approach  to  certainty,  his 
spiritual  pedigree." 

Charles  Wesley  had  no  great  gifts  for  leadership  and  was 
endowed  with  but  few  qualities  for  broad  statesmanship. 
Had  his  counsels  prevailed  on  certain  critical  occasions,  no 
doubt  the  history  of  the  great  Methodist  movement  would 
have  been  very  differently  written.  His  ardent  tempera- 
ment made  him  at  times  irascible  and  his  poetic  moods  often 
amounted  to  eccentricity. 

But  Providence  designed  this  peerless  genius  for  other 
service  and  a  higher  sphere.  He  was  to  be  the  David  of  our 
later  Israel — the  inspired  singer  of  the  centuries.  Had  he 
been  more  of  a  statesman,  he  would  have  been  less  of  a 
poet.  Had  he  been  wiser  as  an  ecclesiastical  leader,  there 
would  have,  been  less  melody  in  the  limped  measures  that 
flowed  from  the  living  fountains  of  his  enraptured  soul. 

All  great  spiritual  revolutions  have  been  accompanied, 
and  made  possible,  by  the  power  of  sacred  song.  Not  only 
so,  but  the  depth  and  strength  of  these  movements,  have 


64  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

been  measured  and  determined  by  the  character  of  their 
psalmody.  The  doctrines  a  people  sing  are  ot  equal  impor- 
tance with  the  gospel  they  preach  and  the  theology  they 
embrace.  The  hymns  that  make  melody  in  the  heart  and 
give  wings  to  faith,  lift  the  soul  nearer  to  the  invisible  than 
all  the  doctrines,  however  clearly  defined,  that  make  up  our 
systems  of  metaphysical  theology.  The  soul  of  religion  is 
best  expressed  in  its  songs.  And  the  sanctified  genius  who, 
in  noblest  measures,  can  give  highest  expressions  to  this 
inner  divine  spirit  of  religion,  has  the  clearest  title  to  be  the 
chosen  and  anointed  legate  of  heaven  and  laureate  of  the 
skies. 

Dr.  Stevens,  the  accomplished  historian,  referring  to  the 
many  volumes  of  hymns  issued  by  the  Wesley's,  said  that 
"The  achievement  accomplished  by  Methodism  in  this  re- 
spect is  alone  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  historical  facts 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Its  influence  on  the  popular  taste, 
intellectual  as  well  as  moral,  could  not  fail  to  be  incalculably 
great."  Indeed  Methodism  could  never  have  swept  with 
such  majestic  speed  over  the  United  Kingdom  and  across 
the  seas,  but  for  its  rich  and  inspiring  psalmody. 

Surely  there  was  need  for  the  divine  afflatus  to  fall  upon 
some  chosen  lyrical  genius  in  order  to  elevate  the  tone  of 
public  worship  and  give  nobler  voice  to  the  aspirations  of  the 
soul.  As  yet  there  were  no  worthy  translations  of  the  state- 
ly Latin  hymns  and  the  hymnology  of  the  English  Churches 
scarcely  rose  above  the  dignity  of  the  ditties  crooned  by  the 
untutored  negroes  on  our  Southern  plantations.  Sternhold 
and  Hopkins,  in  1562,  issued  a  metrical  version  of  the  Psalms, 
which  could  only  rob  the  service  of  the  sanctuary  of  its 
solemnity  and  spiritual  helpfulness.  Some  specimens  as 
they  were  "deaconed  off,"  can  but  provoke  a  smile.  Here  is 
one : 

"'Tis  like  the  precious  ointment 

Down  Aaron's  beard  did  go ; 
Down  Aaron's  beard  it  downward  went, 

His  garment  skirts  unto." 

And  here  is  another  choice  stanza,  which  was  in  more  or 
less  popular  use: 

"Ye  monsters  of  the  bubbling  deep, 

Your  master's  praises  spout ; 
Up  from -the  sands  ye  coddlings  peep, 

And  wag  your  tails  about." 


Bishop  Galloway. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENAEY.  67 

On  the  scripture  text,  "The  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor 
the  battle  to  the  strong,"  this  bit  of  puerile  paraphrase  was 
sung: 

"The  race  is  not  forever  got 

By  him  who  fastest  runs ; 
Nor  the  battle  by  those  people, 

Who  shoot  the  longest  guns." 

Such  was  the  hymnology  of  the  church  when  Watts  and 
Wesley  began  to  sing. 

While  he  generously  contributed  to  form  the  aggressive, 
enthusiastic  type  of  Methodism,  his  lyric  measures  were  in 
turn  largely  affected  by  that  great  spiritual  movement.  His 
muse  soared  on  loftier,  swifter  wing  because  of  the  moun- 
tain air  he  breathed  and  the  jubilant  spirit  of  the  people  with 
whom  he  held  high  fellowship.  Charles  Wesley's  hymns 
were  the  rhythmic  embodiment  of  the  joyous,  hopeful  spirit 
of  the  great  revival.  Probably  as  much,  if  not  even  more 
than  the  sermons  of  John  Wesley,  do  these  hymns  express 
the  very  soul  of  early  Methodism.  On  this  subject  the 
scholarly  and  discriminating  Isaac  Taylor  has  thus  critical- 
ly spoken :  "These  very  hymns,  if  the  writer  had  not  been 
connected  with  Methodism,  would  have  shown  a  very  dif- 
ferent phase ;  for  while  the  depth  and  richness  of  them  are  the 
writers',  the  epigrammatic  intensity,  and  the  pressure  which 
marks  them,  belongs  to  Methodism.  They  may  be  regarded 
as  the  representatives  of  a  modern  devotional  style  which 
has  prevailed  quite  as  much  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the 
Wesleyan  community  as  within  it.  Charles  Wesley's  hymns 
on  the  one  hand,  and  those  of  Toplady,  Cowper  and  Newton 
on  the  other,  mark  that  great  change  in  religious  sentiment 
which  distinguished  the  times  of  Methodism  from  the  staid, 
non-comforming  era  of  Watts  and  Doddridge." 

The  richness  and  variety  of  his  measure  are  truly  mar- 
velous. The  rhythmic  flow  of  his  genius  took  every  form 
known  to  the  poetic  art. 

There  are  not  less  than  twenty-six  different  metres  in  the 
Wesleyan  hymn  book,  and  yet  these  did  not  exhaust  the 
variety  of  his  tuneful  numbers.  He  touched  and  thrilled 
every  chord  of  the  human  heart  and  give  joyful  or  mourn- 
ful note  to  every  passion  of  the  human  soul.  Wonderful 
hymns!  "They  march,  at  times,  like  lengthened  processions 
with  solemn  grandeur;  they  sweep  at  other  times  like 
chariots  of  fire  throueh  the  heavens ;  they  are  broken  like 
the  sobs  of  grief  at  the  graveside,  play  like  the  joyful  af- 


68  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

factions  of  childhood  at  the  hearth,  or  shout  like  victors  in 
the  fray  of  the  battle-field.  No  man  ever  surpassed  Charles 
Wesley  in  the  harmonies  of  language.  To  him  it  was  a 
diapason." 

Their  poetical  publications  followed  each  other  in  rapid 
succession,  sometimes  two  a  year,  until  forty-nine  were 
enumerated  among  the  literary  productions  of  those  won- 
derful brothers.  Charles  Wesley  alone,  wrote  not  less  than 
six  thousand  hymns,  and  many  of  them  among  the  noblest 
lyrics  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Few  men  ever  wrote  with  such  affluence  of  diction  and 
such  ease  and  grace  of  style.  Like  the  fabled  fountains  that 
began  to  flow  at  the  touch  of  an  angel's  foot,  the  rhythmic 
numbers  were  awakened  from  the  faintest  finger  tip  upon  his 
well  strung  lyre.  He  sang  with  no  more  effort  than 
a  lark  cleaves  the  air  on  soaring  wing  or  a  streamlet  chimes 
its  liquid  bells  to  the  sea.  He  sang  because  his  soul  was 
full  of  music.  While  doing  the  almost  superhuman  work 
of  a  flaming  evangelist,  preaching  from  three  to  four  times 
a  day,  he  employed  the  intervals  in  writing  hymns.  His 
thoughts  flowed  with  melody.  Journeying  from  Bristol  to 
Newcastle  oh  one  occasion,  he  met  with  a  painful  accident. 
"Near  Ripley,"  said  he,  "my  horse  threw  and  fell  upon  me. 
My  companion  thought  I  had  broken  my  neck ;  but  my  leg 
only  was  bruised,  my  hand  sprained  and  my  head  stunned — 
which  spoiled  my  making  hymns  or  thinking  at  all,  till  the 
next  'day." 

In  old  age  he  rode  every  day  ("clothed  for  winter  even  in 
summer")  a  little  white  horse.  When  he  mounted,  if  a  sub- 
ject struck  him,  he  proceeded  to  elaborate  it  in  order.  He 
sometimes  wrote  a  hymn  on  a  card,  kept  for  that  purpose, 
with  pencil  in  shorthand.  Or  he  would  ride  up  to  the  house 
in  City  Road,  and  having  left  his  pony  in  the  front  garden, 
rush  in  and  cry  out  "Pen  and  ink !  Pen  and  ink !"  When 
these  were  supplied  and  the  hymn  was  speedily  written  out, 
he  would  greet  pleasantly  all  present  and  enter  into  delight- 
ful conversation. 

The  eloquent  Dr.  William  Morley  Punshon,  who  had  him- 
self the  divine  afflatus  in  liberal  measure,  thus  refers  to  the 
matchless  hymns  of  the  poet  of  Methodism : 

"Entering  into  the  heart's  deep  secrets ;  striking  every 
chord  of  subtlest  and  holiest  feeling ;  giving  forth,  not  echoes 
from  old  harp  songs,  but  melodies  of  the  present,  poured  from 
a  soul  which  enacts  all  the  melodies  that  it  sings;  now 
plaintive  as  the  breath  of  evening,  now  with  a  grand  roll  like 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  69 

that  of  the  thunder  of  God;  expressing  every  variation  in 
the  changing  music  of  life,  and  moreover  piercing  the  invisi- 
ble and  standing  like  a  seraph  in  the  full  vision  of  the  throne 
— seldom  has  the  sacred  lyre  been  swept  by  a  more  skillful 
hand  *  *  His  words  abide  in  the  memory  of  multitudes, 
second  only  to  the  words  of  inspiration  in  their  charm  and 
power.  They  have  chased  away  trouble  from  the  sorrow- 
ing, as  David  from  the  melancholy  Saul.  They  have  in- 
spired the  Christian  warrior  as  the  'Marseillaise'  the  pas- 
sions of  France,  or  the  'Rang  dis  Vaches,'  the  patriotism 
of  the  brave  Swiss  peasantry,  and  greatest  triumph — in  cases 
without  number  they  have  been  the  Hallelujahs  of  the  dying, 
who  have  lingered  upon  the  notes  of  the  song  until  they 
caught  the  notes  of  the  trumpet  which  was  sounding  for 
them  upon  the  other  side." 

And  most  generous  have  been  the  critical  estimates  of 
Wesleyan  hymnologv  by  those  outside  the  Methodist  com- 
munion. Robert  Southey,  the  distinguished  scholar  and  poet- 
laureate  of  England,  said  that  "no  poems  have  been  so  much 
treasured  in  the  memory,  or  so  frequently  quoted  on  a 
death-bed."  And  not  less  appreciative  are  the  eloquent 
words  of  the  scholarly  Isaac  Taylor,  who  said,  "It  may  be 
affirmed  that  there  is  no  principal  element  of  Christianity, 
no  main  article  of  belief,  as  professed  by  Protestant 
Churches ;  that  there  is  no  moral  or  ethical  sentiment  pecu- 
liarly characteristic  of  the  gospel ;  no  height  or  depth  of 
feeling  proper  to  the  spiritual  life,  that  does  not  find  itself 
emphatically  and  pointedly  and  clearly  conveyed  in  some 
stanzas  of  Charles  Wesley's  hymns." 

Dr.  Watts,  the  great  hymn  writer,  in  acknowledging  the 
imperial  genius  of  the  psalmist  of  Methodism,  said:  "I 
would  give  all  I  have  ever  written  for  the  credit  of  being 
the  author  of  Charles  Wesley's  unrivaled  hymn  'Wrestling 
Jacob.'  : 

Henry  Ward  Beecher,  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  nas- 
tors  and  pulpit  orators,  said :  "I  would  rather  have  written 
that  hymn  of  Wesley's,  'Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul,  Let  me 
to  thy  bosom  fly,'  than  to  have  the  fame  of  all  the  Kings 
that  ever  sat  on  the  earth.  It  is  more  glorious.  It  has  more 
power  in  it.  I  would  rather  have  written  such  a  hymn  than 
to  have  heaoed  uo  all  the  treasures  of  the  richest  man  on 
the  globe.  He  will  die.  His  money  will  go  to  his  h^irs.  and 
they  will  divide  it.  But  that  hvmn  will  P^O  on  singinqf  until 
the  last  trump  brines  forth  the  angel  band;  and  then,  I 


70  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

think,  it  will  mount  up  on  some  lips  to  the  verv  presence  of 
God." 

The  biographer  of  Dr.  Watts,  while  claiming  for  him 
preeminence  as  a  sacred  poet,  admitted  the  splendid  and 
sanctified  genius  of  Charles  Wesley.  He  says :  "In  estimat- 
ing the  merits  of  these  two  great  hymnists — the  greatest, 
unquestionably,  that  our  country  can  boast — I  should  not 
hesitate  to  ascribe  to  the  former  greater  skill  in  design,  to 
the  latter  in  execution ;  to  the  former  more  originality,  to 
the  latter  more  polish.  Many  of  Wesley's  flights  are  bold, 
daring  and  magnificent." 

His  wonderful  hymns  were  born  of  his  own  rich  and 
joyous  experience.  Out  of  a  redeemed  soul  he  sang  because 
he  couldn't  hold  the  melody. 

Charles  Wesley  could  never  have  tuned  his  harp  to  sing 
so  sublimely  of  the  joys  of  salvation  if  he  had  simply  heard 
or  read  of  them.  He  must  feel  them  and  then  express 
them.  One  writer  aptly  says :  "When  his  heart-strings 
quiver  with  the  melody  of  heaven  his  harp-strings  must 
sound  responsively.  He  sings  because  he  must  sing.  He 
sings  as  the  bird  sings — for  very  joy.  No  saint  can  climb 
so  high  as  not  to  be  able  to  sing  his  joys  in  the  hymns  of 
Charles  Wesley. 

And  herein  may  be  found  the  marked  difference  between 
the  hymns  of  Charles  Wesley  and  Dr.  Watts,  his  only  rival 
as  a  singer  in  Israel.  A  competent  critic  has  thus  stated 
their  distinguishing  characteristics :  "Watts  describes 
Christian  virtues  and  sentiments  as  a  looker-on;  Wesley 
expresses  them  as  from  the  depth  of  his  own  being.  Watts 
hymns  his  aspirations ;  Wesley  does  this  and  more  for  he 
expresses  his  fruition  of  the  gladdening  grace  of  the  gos- 
pel." 

Wesley  goes  as  far  as  Watts  up  the  "mount  of  redeem- 
ing love,"  and  then  goes  on  and  up  till  he  ceases  to  climb, 
and  soars  away  to  the  skies.  Watts  sings  sweetly  as  the 
caged  bird;  Wesley  sings  as  the  bird  free,  and  winging  his 
flight  heavenward.  Watts  was  more  of  a  general  poet ; 
Wesley  was  more  of  a  lyric  poet  for  the  Church.  Watts 
was  more  of  a  poet  of  nature ;  Wesley  was  more  of  a  poet 
of  grace.  Watts  was  a  poet  of  the  old  prophetic  dispensa- 
tion; Wesley  was  a  poet  of  the  new  pentecostal  dispensa- 
tion. Watts  was  the  poet  of  aspiration ;  Wesley  was  the 
poet  of  inspiration.  Watts  was  the  poet  of  hope ;  Wesley 
was  the  poet  of  fruition." 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  71 

And  as  an  illustration  of  this  striking  contrast  a  single 
stanza  from  each  is  aptly  quoted.  Watts  gazing  aspiringly 
at  the  summit  of  Mount  Pisgah,  bravely  sings: 

"Could  we  but  climb  where  Moses  stood, 

And  view  the  landscape  o'er, 
Not  Jordan's  stream,  nor  death's  cold  flood, 

Could  fright  us  from  the  shore." 

But  Wesley  has  already  climbed  the  mountain  top,  and 
viewing  the  enrapturing  landscape,  exultingly  shouts : 

"The  promised  land,  from  Pisgah's  top, 

I  now  exult  to  see ; 
My  hope  is  full,  O  glorious  hope! 

Of  immortality." 

And  a  further  apt  illustration  of  the  different  characteris- 
tics of  these  great  hymnists  of  the  modern  Church  may  be 
seen  in  the  use  of  the  metaphysician's  favorite  terms ;  Dr. 
Watts  was  fond  of  the  objective,  while  Charles  Wesley 
dwelt  in  the  subjective.  Dr.  Watts  reveled  in  the  disclosures 
of  God  in  nature  and  on  the  pages  of  revelation;  Charles 
Wesley's  hymns  were  the  evolutions  of  his  own  deep  and 
joyous  experience.  Dr.  Watts  sings : 

"Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne 
Ye  nations  bow  with  sacred  awe." 

Charles  Wesley  plaintively  cries : 

"Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul, 
Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly 
While  the  nearer  waters  roll, 
While  the  tempest  still  is  high." 

Dr.  Watts,  looking  up  at  the  heavens  bespangled  with 
stars  and  then  upon  the  pages  of  God's  holy  book,  ex- 
claims : 

"The  heavens  declare  thy  glory,  Lord, 

In  every  star  thy  wisdom  shines ; 
But  when  our  eyes  behold  thy  word 

We  read  thy  name  in  fairer  lines." 

Charles  Wesley,  celebrating  the  anniversary  of  his  happy 
conversion — the  bridal  hour  of  his  soul — and  feeling  that 
one  tongue  was  not  enough  to  express  what  his  heart  felt 


72  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

of  God's   infinite   grace  and   love,   in  tones   of  the   loftiest 
spiritual  rhapsody,  cries  out : 


"O  for  a  thousand  tongues  to  sing 
My  great  Redeemer's  praise ! 

The  glories  of  my  God  and  King 
The  triumphs  of  his  grace!" 


Wesley's  poetic  skill  and  taste  were  also  strangely  dis- 
played in  his  emendations  of  some  of  the  finest  hymns  of  Dr. 
Watts.  For  example,  one  of  the  most  popular  lyrics  of 
Watts,  as  written  and  published  by  himself,  began  with  these 
lines : 

"Nations  attend  before  His  throne 
With  solemn  fear,  with  sacred  joy." 

Charles  Wesley  changed  them  so  as  to  read, 

"Before  Jehovah's  awful  throne 
Ye  nations  bow  with  sacred  joy." 

How  much  more  majestic  when  edited  by  the  skillful  hand 
of  the  poet  laureate  of  Methodism. 

Charles  Wesley's  masterpiece,  as  a  work  of  art,  is  said 
by  the  critics,  to  be  his  "Wrestling  Jacob,"  beginning  with 
the  line, 

"Come,   O  thou  Traveller  unknown. 

This  is  a  lyrical  drama,  in  which  with  consummate  skill, 
the  action  is  carried  on  with  strange  and  increasing  interest, 
to  the  final  triumph.  The  splendid  conflict  with  the  mysterious 
being  is  magnificently  sustained,  every  turn  graphically  de- 
scribed ;  till  after  the  long  night's  desperate  struggle,  the 
rapturous  discovery  is  made,  faith  triumphs  and  exclaims, 

"I  know  Thee,  Savior,  who  Thou  art." 

And  what  could  be  more  majestic  than  these  magnificent 
lines  on  faith — faith  which  is  the  victory  that  overcometh 
the  world.: 

"Faith,  mighty  faith,  the  promise  sees, 

Relies  on  that  alone, 
Laughs  at  impossibilities, 

And  says,  'It  must  be  done.' 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  73 

Faith  lends  her  realizing  light, 

The  clouds  disperse,  the  shadows  fly, 

The  Invisible  appears  in  sight, 
And  God  is  seen  by  mortal  eye." 

There  is  the  quiver  of  power  in  every  line,  that  wakes  a 
divine  courage  in  every  faint  heart,  makes  an  armed  and  ar- 
mored soldier  of  every  eager  energy  in  the  body,  and 
shames  the  very  suggestion  of  possible  defeat.  No  wonder 
the  ardent,  redeemed  souls  in  Kingswood,  Bristol  and 
elsewhere,  who  sang  such  triumphant  measures,  were  able  to 
face  the  fury  of  mobs  and  follow  their  Lord  without  the 
camp  bearing  His  reproach. 

A  few  days  before  his  death,  after  some  hours  of  per- 
fect silence,  Mrs.  Wesley  wrote  the  following  lines,  at  his 
dictation : 

"In  age  and  feebleness  extreme, 
Who  shall  a  sinful  worm  redeem? 
Jesus,   my   only  hope  thou  art, 
Strength  of  my  failing  flesh  and  heart ; 
O !  Could  I  catch  a  smile  from  thee, 
And  drop  into  eternity!" 

On  the  morning  of  March  29th,  1788,  in  the  eightieth  year 
of  his  age,  the  sweet  singer  of  Methodism  peacefully  fell 
asleep.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  John  Wesley  was  at 
that  time  preaching  in  Shropshire,  and  at  the  very  moment 
of  his  brother's  triumphant  ascension  was, 'with  the  con- 
gregation, singing  Charles's  matchless  hymn : 

"Come  let  us  join  our  friends  above, 

That  have  obtained  the  prize, 
And,  on  the  eagle  wings  of  love. 

To  joys  celestial   rise : 


One  family,  we  dwell  in  Him, 
One  Church,  above,  beneath, 

Though  now  divided  by  the  stream, 
The  narrow  stream  of  death ; 

One  army  of  the  living  God, 

To  His  command  we  bow, 
Part  of  his  host  have  crossed  the  flood, 

And  part  are  crossing  now." 


74  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

At  his  own  request  he  was  buried  in  Marylebone  church- 
yard, and  not  with  his  Methodist  comrades  at  City  Road. 

This  was  a  genuine  grief  to  his  great  and  noble  bro- 
ther. In  a  private  letter  he  made  this  pathetic  reference : 
"It  is  a  pity  but  the  remains  of  my  brother  had  been  deposi- 
ted with  mine.  Certainly  that  ground  is  holy  as  any  in 
England ;  and  it  contains  a  large  quantity  of  'bonny'  dead." 

On  his  modest  tomb  are  the  beautiful  lines  written  by  him- 
self, on  occasion  of  the  death  of  one  of  his  friends.  As  his 
biographer  has  well  said,  they  could  not  be  more  aptly  ap- 
plied to  any  person  than  to  their  distinguished  author,  the 
poet-laureate  of  Methodism : 

"With  poverty  of  spirit  bless'd, 

Rest,  happy  saint,  in  Jesus  rest ; 
A  sinner  saved,  through  grace  forgiven, 
Redeemed  from  earth  to  reign  in  heaven ! 
Thy  labors  of  unwearied  love, 
By  thee  forgot,  are  crowned  above ; 
Crowned,  through  the  mercy  of  thy  Lord, 
With  a  full,  free,  immense  reward !" 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  75 


HISTORIC  GROUND. 


The  skies  were  dark  and  showers  the  rule  all  during  yes- 
terday, but  this  did  not  deter  a  large  number  of  visitors  and 
citizens  from  going  down  to  the  wharf  at  the  foot  of  Whita- 
ker  street  and  getting  on  board  the  steamer  Clifton  that  had 
been  chartered  for  the  excursion  down  the  river. 

The  Clifton  with  over  three  hundred  and  fifty  on  board 
was  headed  down  the  river  at  3  :3O  o'clock  and  the  passen- 
gers took  the  greatest  interest,  because  it  was  over  the 
route  where  Wesley's  little  fleet  had  sailed  many  years  ago. 

A  brief  stop  was  made  in  front  of  Cockspur  Island,  the 
ground  made  historic  because  Wesley  landed  there  when 
arriving  in  America.  It  was  not  desired  by  the  travelers 
that  they  be  put  on  shore,  and  after  a  careful  and  interested 
survey  of  the  little  island  the  Clifton  started  off  again. 

The  voyage  was  then  resumed  and  the  Clifton  made  her 
way  out  to  the  bell  buoy  and  then  to  the  open  sea.  The 
weather  had  been  changeable  all  of  the  way,  and  the  excur- 
sionists had  first  a  chance  to  promenade  the  decks  and  next 
a  sudden  call  to  take  shelter  under  the  awnings  and  in- 
doors. 

The  excursion  was  under  the  management  of  a  committee 
and  Rev.  J.  A.  Smith,  as  general  chairman  of  the  Wesley 
bi-centenary  committees,  was  on  board  and  assisted  in 
making  everybody  comfortable  and  happy.  The  points  of 
historic  interest  were  marked  in  passing  by  those  familiar 
with  the  matter. 

During  the  voyage  refreshments  were  served  and  all  were 
well  pleased  with  this  feature  of  the  trip.  The  day  could 
have  perhaps  been  more  pleasant  if  the  weather  had  been 
fine,  but  it  was  thoroughly  enjoyed,  nevertheless.  The 
management  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  showers  and  after 
the  first  one  or  two  everybody  got  used  to  the  dampness 
and  the  remainder  of  the  trip  was  enjoyed  very  much. 

The  Clifton  returned  to  the  city  at  about  7  o'clock  and 
all  who  had  taken  the  trip  expressed  their  great  pleasure 
and  said  that  despite  the  rain,  they  were  very  glad  they  had 
braved  the  elements  and  gone  for  the  voyage. 


Rev.  W.  P.  Thirkield,  D.  D. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  79 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  METHODISM  ON  AMERICA. 


An  Address  by  the  Rev.  Wilber  P.  Thirkield,  D.  D.,  Corresponding 

Secretary  freedmen's  Aid  and  Southern  Education 

Society,,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

On  the  platform  were  seated  Bishop  Candler,  Dr.  Thir- 
kield,  Rev.  A.  M.  Williams,  Rev.  H.  C.  Christian  and  other 
ministers.  The  Bishop  presided. 

The  services  were  begun  with  the  singing  of  "God  of  My 
Life,  Whose  Gracious  Power."  Hymns  No.  209  and  220 
were  sung  later,  all  written  by  Charles  Wesley. 

Rev.  G.  G.  N.  McDonell  led  in  prayer  and  read  the  lesson 
for  the  day. 

Bishop  Candler  in  a  few  well  chosen  remarks  introduced 
the  speaker  of  the  evening.  Quoting  the  words  of  Frank- 
lin at  Philadelphia  that  the  God  who  notes  the  fall  of  a  spar- 
row must  be  sought  if  a  nation  is  to  rise,  the  Bishop  said 
that  the  rise  of  Methodism  had  exerted  a  wonderful  power 
upon  the  world,  and  especially  was  this  true  of  the  influence 
of  Wesley  upon  American  civilization. 

It  was  a  pleasant  duty,  he  said,  to  introduce  a  man  who 
had  lived  and  labored  in  Georgia,  but  who  was  called  away. 
He  presented  Dr.  Thirkield,  to  speak  upon  the  influences  of 
Methodism  upon  the  American  civilization. 

"As  he  was  sailing  away  from  these  Savannah  shores  on 
Thursday,  January  22,  1738,  John  Wesley  wrote  in  his  jour- 
nal. "I  took  my  leave  of  America,  though  if  it  please  God, 
not  forever." 

No,  "not  forever."  For  though  thou  shalt  never  again 
set  foot  in  America,  thou  shalt  come  again ;  thy  spirit  and 
life  incarnate,  through  Christ,  in  the  mightiest  evangelical 
religious  movement  of  the  centuries ;  a  movement  that  is 
to  touch  with  Christ's  hand  the  expanding,  tumultous  life  of 
peoples  who  are  to  become  mighty  states  and  empires ;  a 
movement  that  is  to  shape  the  life  and  uplift  the  civilization 
of  millions  then  unborn ;  a  movement  that  through  Church 
and  school  and  press,  is  to  raise  up  and  inspire  a  ministry 
and  people  so  aggressive,  so  pentecostal,  of  such  zeal  and 
sacrifice  and  power,  as  has  not  been  seen  since  the  Apostolic 
age ;  a  movement  that,  touching  every  fifth  man  in  America, 
is  to  so  lift  our  civilization  into  the  light  and  life  of  God,  as 


80  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

to  make  it  a  beacon  to  the  world,  and  to  fairly  fulfill  in 
her  that  words  of  the  prophet :  "I  will  make  thee  for  a  light 
to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  un- 
to the  ends  of  the  earth." 

The  theme  assigned  me  by  your  Committee  is  "The  In- 
fluence of  Methodism  on  American  Civilization." 

Civilization  has  to  do  with  political  and  social  organiza- 
tion and  order,  progress  in  knowledge  and  in  the  refine- 
ments and  moralities  of  peoples ;  with  their  entire  life  as  it 
relates  itself  to  mental,  moral  and  social  advancement.  We 
are  therefore  to  hold  in  view,  in  the  enlargement  of  our 
theme,  not  merely  the  bearing  of  the  Methodist  movement 
on  the  religious  life  of  the  Nation,  but  its  influence  as  it 
effects  the  whole  life,  civil,  political,  intellectual,  social. 

CIVILIZATION  AND  RELIGION. 

When  we  come  to  inquire  as  to  the  influence  of  religion 
on  civilization,  we  find  that  the  scientist  and  social  philoso- 
pher for  ages  ignored  or  scouted  the  facts  of  religion.  Ear- 
ly historians  of  civilization  gave  it  scant  notice.  Now,  how- 
ever, it  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  furnishing  the  most 
striking  and  persistent  phenomena  in  the  shaping  of  civiliza- 
tion. It  touches  man's  deepest  being  ;  it  most  deeply  af- 
fects his  life ;  it  furnishes  the  supreme  note  in  his  character ; 
the  entire  outline  of  his  social  development  and  civilization 
is  profoundly  influenced  by  religion. 

This  is  preeminently  true  of  Christianity.  The  Christian 
religion  is  the  most  characteristic  and  pervasive  fact  of  our 
Western  civilization.  As  Kidd  suggests,  though  a  large 
proportion  of  the  population  may  be  quite  unconscious  of  it, 
their  conception  of  their  mutual  relationships,  of  their  rights 
and  duties,  of  their  ideas  of  liberty,  of  government  and  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  society,  have  been  largely 
shaped  by  the  teachings  of  religion.  In  fact,  history  would 
seem  to  show  that  the  only  civilization  is  Christian  civiliza- 
tion— any  other  has  in  it  the  seeds  of  its  own  dissolution. 

This  is  especially  true  in  America.  Here  the  Christian 
religion  has  had  free  scope.  It  has  been  untrammeled  by 
statecraft.  Ecclesiasticism  has  not  drawn  its  straight-jacket 
over  it.  The  Church  has  exacted  no  taxes  or  tithes.  The 
masses  have  been  reached  by  the  Gospel. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  81 

METHODISM  AND  AMERICAN  CIVILIZATION. 

Referring  to  America,  we  may  ask,  how  does  it  come  that 
this  civilization  by  general  consent  of  men  leads  the  world? 
That  Herbert  Spencer  prophesied  that  the  forces  that  are 
moulding  our  national  life  would  produce  civilization  grand- 
er than  any  the  world  has  ever  known !  And  that  that  most 
astute  and  comprehensive  student  of  our  civilization  since  De 
Touqueville  has  testified  that  American  civilization  marks 
the  highest  level  to  which  the  race  has  ever  yet  attained! 
What  better  answer  can  be  given  than  in  that  word  of  one 
of  the  foremost  of  the  secular  journals  of  our  civilization, 
which  has  affirmed  that  "no  candid  observer  will  deny  that 
whatever  of  good  there  may  be  in  our  American  civilization, 
is  the  product  of  Christianity.  The  motives  and  powers 
working  for  the  cleansing  and  uplifting  of  our  social  life  are 
Christian." 

Coming  now  to  our  specific  theme  we  may  inquire,  is  there 
any  individual  religious  movement  which  above  all  others 
has  produced  this  profound  and  abiding  influence  on  Ameri- 
can life  and  character? 

In  answer,  lest  on  this  occasion  we  ourselves  would  seem 
to  be  given  to  boasting,  let  us  go  to  the  leading  authority 
on  the  moral  aspects  of  our  civilization,  Dr.  Baird,  a  Pres- 
byterian, who  recognizes  in  the  Methodist  economy  as  well 
as  in  the  zeal,  devoted  piety  and  efficiency  of  its  ministry, 
"the  most  powerful  element  in  the  religious  prosperity  of 
the  United  States,  as  well  as  one  of  the  firmest  pillars  of 
our  civil  and  religious  institutions."  This  influence  on 
American  civilization  is  not  found  in  creed  or  cathedral,  but 
in  life.  McCarthy  bears  witness  that  Wesley's  "monument 
lives  to-day  in  the  living  history  of  England  and  America," 
and  even  George  William  Curtis  witnesses  to  the  higher, 
freer,  individual  and  national  life  to  which  Methodism 
leads. 

Methodism,  by  general  consent,  through  its  doctrines  and 
polity,  the  peculiar  genius  of  its  organization  and  life,  has 
done  more  to  mould  and  uplift  the  civilization  of  America 
than  any  other  one  organized  force. 

Both  by  its  doctrines  and  methods,  Methodism  was  prov- 
identially equipped  for  the  task  of  saving  a  civilization.  The 
doctrines  of  the  Methodist  movement  were  Scriptural,  sim- 
ple, preachable.  The  message  of  the  preacher  was  three- 
fold and  set  forth,  first,  salvation  from  sin,  free  and  for  all, 
on  simple  faith ;  second,  a  salvation  you  can  know,  here  and 
now;  third,  a  salvation  to  which  you  can  testify. 


82  WESLEY  SI-CENTENARY. 

Of  these  doctrines  were  born  and  inspired  the  men  for 
the  moral  and  spiritual  conquest  of  a  Nation.  They  were 
saved,  often  from  the  depths  of  despair  from  which  Galvan- 
ism was  powerless  to  lift  them.  They  knew  they  were  saved. 
And  they  testified  to  it.  It  was  the  Apostolic  method,  wit- 
ness to  Jesus  and  the  power  of  his  resurrection.  And  this 
doctrine  of  assurance  they  sung: 

"That  which  we  have  seen  and  felt 

With  confidence  we  tell, 
And  publish  to  the  sons  of  men, 

The  signs  infallible." 

The  story  of  their  evangelism  reads  like  a  chapter  out  of 
the  book  of  Acts. 

METHODISM'S  APPEAL  TO  THE  INDIVIDUAL. 

The  special  adaptation  of  the  Methodist  movement  to 
American  civilization  was  in  its  appeal  to  the  individual. 
The  unit  of  civilization  is  the  individual.  This  fact  is  em- 
phasized in  a  democracy.  Not  bound  by  set  forms,  not  given 
to  ecclesiasticism,  Methodism  struck  out  for  man.  Its  preach- 
ing emphasized  the  worth  of  the  individual  soul. 

Any  great  social  and  religious  movement  draws  its  power 
from  reverence  for  humanity ;  from  its  capacity  to  create 
men ;  and  all  this  through  its  power  to  get  God  into  touch 
with  man ;  to  draw  man  up  out  of  the  depths  into  the  larger 
and  Divine  relations  for  which  he  was  created.  Methodism 
got  hold  of  men  by  gripping  the  individual  man.  It  acted 
on  the  truth  stated  by  Emerson,  that  God  hath  not  created 
souls  in  bundles,  but  to  every  man  He  puts  the  question, 
"How  is  it  with  thee?"  The  Methodist  preacher  got  from 
Wesley  himself,  the  secret  of  preaching  to  the  individual. 
And  how  did  Wesley  preach?  Hear  him  in  one  of  his  ap- 
peals :  "Who  art  thou  that  now  seest  and  feelest  both  thine 
inward  and  outward  ungodliness  Thou  art  the  man.  I 
want  thee  for  my  Lord ;  I  challenge  thee  for  a  child  of 
God  by  faith.  .  The  Lord  hath  need  of  thee.  Thou  who  feel- 
est thou  art  just  fit  for  hell,  art  just  fit  to  advance  His 
glory,  the  glory  of  His  free  grace,  justifying  the  ungodly  and 
him  that  worketh  not.  Oh,  come  quickly !  Believe  in  the 
Lord  God;  and  thou,  even  thou,  are  reconciled  to  God."  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  John  Nelson,  who  heard  him,  said :  "I 
thought  he  fixed  his  eyes  on  me,  and  his  whole  discourse 
was  aimed  at  me."  Such  Methodist  preaching  broke  hard- 


WESLEY  SI-CENTENARY.  s       83 

ened  hearts  until  men  in  anguish  cried  out :  "The  arrows  of 
the  Almighty  stick  fast  within  me,  and  the  terrors  of  God 
do  set  themselves  up  in  array  against  me." 

ADAPTATION  TO  A  DEMOCRACY. 

The  very  genius  and  spirit  of  Methodism  thus  gave  it 
special  adaptation  to  a  democracy.  John  Wesley  showed 
great  wisdom  in  leaving,  at  the  earliest  moment  American 
Methodism  to  the  control  and  direction  of  Americans.  It 
has  been  well  said  that  while  he  gave  advice,  he  did  not  dic- 
tate as  to  the  spirit  and  method  of  the  movement  in  this 
country.  Thus  fortunately  it  broke  away  from  the  hard, 
set  lines  of  the  Angelican  establishment  and  was  left  to  a 
free  and  spontaneous  development  in  this  new  empire.  It 
has  thus  become,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  the  church  of  the 
American  people. 

Methodism,  thus  freed,  worked  towards  the  Democratic 
ideal.  It  was  a  great  leveler,  not  by  leveling  down  but  by 
leveling  up.  It  put  hope  and  divine  strength  under  the  feet 
of  men.  It  was  a  lifter  up  of  downcast  people.  Who  can 
estimate  the  influence  of  the  numerous  churches  in  isolated 
communities ;  the  preaching  in  houses,  the  free,  active  ex- 
ercise of  the  talent  for  public  speaking  in  the  class  meet- 
ings, the  raising  up  of  an  army  of  lay  preachers  and  workers. 
Think  of  the  influence  of  all  this  in  popular  education  and 
on  the  civilization  of  a  new  democracy. 

In  the  ministry  of  this  sparsely  peopled  continent  the 
Methodist  churches  have  for  four  generations,  been  "creat- 
ing a  nervous  system  for  our  nascent  commonwealth."  The 
itinerant  was  the  popular  educator.  With  his  saddle-bags 
filled  with  books,  carrying  with  him  a  larger  outlook  upon 
life,  he  constantly  kept  "the  out-posts  of  civilization  in 
touch  with  each  other  and  has  linked  them  on  to  the  body 
of  the  more  highly  advanced  community."  They  scattered 
cheap  literature  of  a  high  grade.  They  taught  the  people  to 
sing.  The  Methodist  hymn  book  has  been  called  the  liturgy 
of  the  revival,  and  the  revival  itself  a  real  democratic  col- 
lege of  music. 

And  who  can  measure  the  power  of  the  hymns  of  Metho- 
dism? What  a  tribute  that  of  Dr.  Austin  Phelps !  "For 
the  planting  of  great  Christian  truths  deep  in  the  heart  of 
an  awakened  people,  let  us  have  John  Wesley's  tongue  of 
fire,  seconded  by  Charles  Wesley's  hymns,  floating  heaven- 
ward on  the  twilight  air  from  ten  thousand  Methodist 


84  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

voices.  Under  such  conditions  Methodism  is  inspired.  To 
know  what  Methodist  voices  are  under  inspiration,  one 
must  hear  them.  Mobs,  bellowing  with  infuriated  bloodthirst, 
which  neither  John  Wesley's  coal-black  eye  nor  Whitefield's 
imperial  voice  could  quell,  have  been  known  to  turn  and 
slink  away  when  the  truth  was  sung  at  them  in  Charles 
Wesley's  hymns.  Their  ringleaders,  more  than  once,  broke 
down  in  tears  and  groans  of  remorse.  They  took  the  preacher 
by  the  hand,  and  went  his  way  with  him,  arm  in  arm, 
swearing  by  all  that  is  holy  that  not  a  hair  of  his  hair  should 
be  touched.  Thus  was  Luther's  saying  verified  anew:  "The 
devil  can  stand  anything  but  good  music,  and  that  makes 
him  roar." 

How  can  we  ever  estimate  the  importance  of  the  itinerant 
ministry  in  creating  a  spirit  of  unity  in  the  widely  scattered 
republic.  Like  shuttles  of  light  they  flew  backward 
and  forward  in  the  national  loom  "weaving  together  in  one 
organic  whole  the  isolated  and  widely  scattered  communi- 
ties, weaving  closer  and  closer  the  many  colored  strands  of 
our  national  life."  The  class  meeting  became  a  school  of 
government.  Stead  even  insists  that  in  developing  habits  of 
association  and  self-government  Methodism  rendered  modern 
democracy  possible. 

EQUIPPED  TO  SAVE  A  CIVILIZATION. 

The  Methodism  of  John  Wesley  was  not  only  fitted  for  a 
democracy,  but  was  providentially  equipped  to  save  a  civili- 
zation. 

Guizot  has  somewhere  said  that  prevision  and  exact  cal- 
culation do  not  count  for  so  much  in  governments.  "It  is 
unexpected  events,  the  imperious  necessities  of  successive 
epochs  which  are  decisive."  Methodism  did  not  create  an 
epoch  in  our  civilization.  But  Methodism,  at  the  opening  of 
the  last  century,  did  meet  the  imperious  demands  of  an 
epoch  which  amounted  to  a  crisis  in  the  moral  life  of  a  na- 
tion. Methodism's  greatest  service  to  America  was  in  sav- 
ing the  civilization  of  the  great  West. 

While  the  opportunity  for  Methodism  was  broader  in  the 
West,  yet  let  us  not  forget  that  in  the  South  were  its  largest 
conquests  at  the  opening  of  the  last  century.  Let  us  not 
forget  that  every  spot  pressed  by  the  feet  of  John  Wesley, 
(sometimes  bare  feet  in  order  to  win  boys  who  had  no  shoes), 
are  on  these  Southern  shores.  Here  in  1736  began  the  in- 
fluence of  John  Wesley  on  our  American  civilization.  John 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  &5 

Wesley  was  in  Georgia  with  Oglethorpe  at  the  founding  of 
this  colony.  Thus  through  him  he  early  touched  the  civili- 
zation of  America.  He  called  himself  a  "Georgia  missioner." 
Of  his  service  Whitefield  testifies : 

"The  good  Mr.  John  Wesley  has  done  in  America  is  inex- 
pressible. His  name  is  very  precious  among  the  people,  and 
he  has  laid  a  foundation  that  I  hope  neither  men  nor  devils 
will  ever  be  able  to  shake.  Oh,  that  I  may  follow  him  as 
he  followed  Christ!" 

Here  Wesley  and  Whitefield  were  intent,  not  merely  on 
touching  the  religious  life  of  the  people,  but  started  move- 
ments for  social  betterment.  They  labored  for  the  poor. 
Here  Whitefield  founded  his  orphan  house.  Here  in  the 
South  Methodism  took  early  and  firm  root.  It  is  true  it 
had  a  hard  task  in  Savannah.  Who  could  have  prophesied 
from  these  untoward  beginnings  that  in  this  Commonwealth 
every  sixth  man,  woman  and  child  would  to-day  be  a  Metho- 
dist! 

The  early  field  of  Methodist  triumphs  was  in  the  South. 
After  crossing  the  mountain  ranges  near  the  eastern  coast, 
Francis  Asbury  once  spoke  of  his  diocese  as  reaching  from 
Boston  to  Savannah,  and  being  several  hundred  miles  in 
width.  While  in  1784  there  were  1,607  Methodists  in  the 
North,  in  the  South  13,381  were  marshalled  under  the  ban- 
ner of  Methodism.  In  Virginia,  Francis  Asbury  established 
the  first  sunday-school  on  the  American  continent.  Giving 
aid  to  Mark  Moore  in  planting  Methodism  in  New  Orleans, 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  first  Missionary  Society  in  Ameri- 
can Methodism. 

The  South  was  the  early  training  school  for  many  of  the 
preachers  of  the  Methodist  movements.  Here  many  of  its 
leaders  were  born.  Here  in  the  seaboard .  states  they  had 
their  first  triumphs,  gaining  that  discipline  of  mind  and  cour- 
age of  spirit  needed  for  the  larger  field  in  the  border  states 
of  the  South,  and  the  opening  empire  of  the  wild  and  unset- 
tled West.  For  this  supreme  task  the  South  furnished  many 
of  the  strongest  ministers. 

PERIL  OF  THE  NEW  WEST. 

What  a  prophetic  scene  was  that  in  the  life  of  Henry  Clay 
when  on  a  jutting  crag  on  the  heights  of  the  Alleghenies, 
looking  out  toward  the  silent  and  empty  prairie  of  the  great 
West,  he  inclined  his  head  as  if  listening  to  far  away  sounds. 
Said  his  friend,  "What  hearest  thou?"  "Hear?  I  hear  the 


86  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

thundering  tread  of  the  coming  millions  that  will  ascend 
these  mountains,  descend  into  these  valleys,  and  hold  these 
prairies  away  to  the  setting  sun."  A  true  prophecy,  and  in 
its  fulfillment  lay  the  peril  of  a  new  civilization. 

It  is  a  truth  emphasized  by  history,  that  emigration  or  a 
new  settlement  of  the  social  state  involves  a  tendency  to 
social  decline.  American  civilization  faced  just  this  danger. 
Here  were  the  multitudes  rolling  on  into  the  West  plunging 
into  the  'wilderness,  clambering  over  mountains,  fighting 
the  Indian ;  men  passionate  for  land,  "adventure, ,  gold  and 
gain.  Together  with  the  elements  of  better  peoples,  there 
rushed  on  headlong  into  the  West,  rude,  wicked  men,  out- 
laws, adventurers,  together  with  hoards  of  foreigners ;  all 
pouring  in  a  promiscuous  flood  into  these  wild  and  unsettled 
regions. 

CIVILIZATION  HAS  ROOTS. 

Now  civilization  has  roots.  These  roots  strike  deep  and 
hold  men  with  the  strong  and  vital  grip  of  local  institutions 
and  ideals.  An  emigrant  race  cannot  carry  these  roots  with 
it.  It  snaps  off  this  vital  connection  with  old  environments. 
Herein  was  America's  peril.  Away  from  the  standards  of 
civilized  life  ;  away  from  the  restraints  of  law  and  order  ;  away 
from  the  constraining  influence  of  home  and  the  enlighten- 
ing influence  of  the  Church ;  separated  from  the  ideals  of  the 
family  and  higher  social  life,  there  was  positive  danger  of 
the  emigrant  masses  in  our  great  unsettled  West  degenerat- 
ing into  barbarism,  a  low,  coarse,  unmoral  civilization ; 
danger  of  permanent  decline  in  morals  and  religion  among 
emigrant  peoples  who  were  the  makers  of  new  states  and 
shapers  of  a  new  civilization. 

"BARBARISM   THE   FIRST   DANGER." 

Lest  we  may  seem  to  exaggerate  let  us  turn  to  Horace 
Bushnell,  who  in  his  great  Home  Missionary  sermon  on 
"Barbarism  The  First  Danger,"  drew  a  vivid  picture  of  this 
region  of  passion  and  of  disorder  in  the  West,  "spreading, 
onward  across  the  vast  regions  yet  unoccupied,  growing  yet 
more  violent  as  it  is  deeper  in  ignorance,  and  wilder  still  as 
it  is  more  remote  from  the  haunts  of  Christian  civilization." 
He  sees  in  his  vision  the  possibility  of  masses  of  "a  partially 
new  race  of  men  such  as  cannot  any  longer  be  properly  in- 
cluded in  the  term  of  civilization,  rolling  on  like  a  prairie 
fire  caused  by  the  advance  of  regular  emigration,"  with  no 


WESLEY  BI-CENTEXARY.  87 

fixed  habits  or  care  for  civilization,  education  or  religion. 
These  "semi-barbarians  too  are  continually  multiplying  in 
numbers  and  becoming  more  distinct  in  their  habits.  Ere 
long  there  is  reason  to  fear  they  will  be  scouring  in  populous 
bands  over  the  vast  territories  of  Oregon  and  California 
(then  standing  for  the  greater  West)  to  be  known  as  the 
pasturing  tribes,  the  wild  and  robber  clans  of  the  Western 
hemisphere,  American  Moabites,  Arabs  and  Edomites."  He 
sounds  the  alarm  of  one  emigrant  family  of  the  Saxbn  race  al- 
ready sunk  into  barbarism  since  our  history  began,  the 
Dutch  Boers  of  South  Africa. 

AN  ALARMING  PICTURE. 

That  this  alarming  picture  is  borne  out  by  contemporary 
reports  of  actual  conditions  earlier  in  the  century,  is  shown 
by  the  Massachusetts  Bible  Society.  Mills  and  Shermer- 
horne,  agents  in  the  West  and  South,  report  finding  entire 
populations  utterly  ignorant  of  divine  things ;  with  no 
schools,  no  Bibles,  no  religious  institutions. 

Their  account  of  the  wickedness  in  the  new  settlements 
is  appalling.  Through  emigration,  they  were  constantly 
growing  worse.  After  going  over  the  field  the  second  time, 
Mills  gave  it  as  his  calm  and  deliberate  opinion,  that  there 
were  in  1815  "between  the  Allegheny  Mountains  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  76,000  families  destitute  of  trie  Bible,"  and 
the  number  was  yearly  increasing. 

Everywhere,  but  especially  in  the  Ohio  River  towns,  he 
found  the  Sabbath  was  polluted  by  hunting,  feasting,  fishing 
and  by  a  gross  neglect  of  religious  duties.  The  people  were 
demoralized  by  drunkenness  and  profane  swearing.  Across 
the  river  in  Kentucky,  the  towns  are  described  as  sinks  of  in- 
iquity and  the  mass  of  the  inhabitants  as  ignorant  and  vic- 
ious, and  utterly  destitute  of  the  Bible  and  religious  books. 

The  West  was  in  a  state  of  spiritual  darkness.  The  re- 
ports record  "great  tracts  of  country  inhabited  with  some 
20  to  50,000  people  in  which  there  was  not  a  preacher  of  any 
sort.  Where  there  were  any,  they  were  almost  invariably 
Methodists."  The  note  of  alarm  was  sounded  that  "some 
mighty  efforts  must  be  made  if  the  West  was  not  to  become 
as  ignorant  of  God's  word  as  the  heart  of  Africa." 

This  downward  pressure  of  emigrant  masses  grasping, 
rude,  ignorant,  free  from  restraint  of  law,  home  ties,  the 
Church,  religion,  furnished  the  crisis  of  a  Nation.  Our  civi- 
lization was  in  peril.  The  problem  was,  shall  this  great  em- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 


pire  of  the  West  that  is  to  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  a 
democratic  civilization,  be  redeemed  into  order,  morality 
and  religion,  or  will  this  downward  force  carry  it  beyond 
the  capacity  to  rise.  The  great  empire  of  the  West  must 
be  won  from  threatened  barbarism  to  God. 

THE  CHURCH  UNEQUAL  TO  THE  TASK. 

The  Church  is  the  only  hope.  But  is  the  Church  equal  to 
this  tremendous  task?'  There  is  no  question  that  at  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Church  was  in  a  state 
of  weakness  and  spiritual  decline  because  of  the  turmoil  and 
distractions  succeeding  the  Revolution.  English  deism  and 
French  infidelity  were  doing  their  deadly  work.  The  infideli- 
ty of  the  French  Revolution  was  popular.  Students  in 
Christian  Colleges  were  organized  into  infidel  clubs.  Yale 
had  only  four  Christian  students.  Unitarianism,  with  its 
pale  negations,  soon  began  to  dominate  New  England.  And 
I  may  here  state  it  as  my  conviction  that  Methodism 
through  its  evangelical  doctrine  and  the  appeal  to  a  liv- 
ing experience  proved  the  strongest  breakwater  against  the 
spread  of  Unitarianism. 

The  Church  had  been  disestablished.  McMaster  says  that 
in  Virginia  the  Episcopal  clergy  had  fallen  into  disrepute 
and  even  in  the  large  towns  the  buildings  were  given  over 
to  vermin  and  decay.  Such  was  the  condition  of  the 
Churches. 

The  clergy  was  not  aggressive.  Revivals  had  largely 
ceased.  There  was  a  settled  clergy  with  unbending  ideals 
in  religious  methods ;  a  stiff,  standing  order  to  work  and 
worship  adapted  to  the  settled  civilization  of  the  East  and 
seaboard  regions.  Neither  church  nor  clergy  was  equal 
to  the  emergency  in  the  West.  How  was  this  crisis  to  be 
met? 

Here  was  a  new  empire  spreading  out  toward  the  setting 
sun,  and,  as  was  suggested,  some  agency  like  the  angel  of 
the  Apocalypse  was  needed  to  fly  through  the  midst  of  the 
heavens  having  the  everlasting  Gospel  to  preach  to  the  mil- 
lions, who  were  rushing  away  from  Church  and  civilization 
into  these  unsettled  regions.  A  ministry  of  evangelizing 
gifts  and  power  was  needed  that  could  go  out  into  the  high- 
ways and  could  follow  with  swift  and  eager  feet  the  ever 
advancing  borders  of  the  emigrants  and  compel  men  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  • 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  89 

METHODISM'S  ADAPATION  TO  THE  WILDER- 
NESS. 

Methodism,  alone  in  its  doctrines,  spirit  and  movement 
was  providentially  adapted  to  this  aggressive  and  rapidly 
moving  civilization  of  the  West.  As  Roosevelt  bears  wit- 
ness in  his  "Winning  of  the  West :"  "Galvanism,  though 
more  congenial  than  Episcopacy  and  infinitely  more  so  than 
Catholicism,  was  too  cold  for  the  fiery  hearts  of  the  borders ; 
they  were  not  stirred  to  the  depths  of  their  natures  till 
other  creeds,  and  above  all  Methodism,  worked  their  way 
to  the  wilderness." 

That  is  a  fine  tribute  of  Horace  Bushnell  in  which  the 
providential  adaptation  of  the  Methodist  ministry  for  this 
crisis  is  set  forth:  "A  ministry  admirably  adapted  as  re- 
gards their  mode  of  action  to  the  new  West ;  a  kind  of  light 
artillery  that  God  has  organized  to  pursue,  to  overtake  the 
fugitives  that  flee  into  the  wilderness  from  His  presence. 
They  are  firm  and  effective  in  action  ready  for  all  service  and 
omnipresent  as  it  were  in  the  field.  The  new  settler  reaches 
the  ground  to  be  occupied  and  by  the  next  week  he  is  like- 
ly to  find  the  circuit  crossing  by  his  door,  and  to  hear  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness :  'The  kingdom  of 
God  is  come  nigh  unto  you.'  ; 

This  ubiquity  of  the  Methodist  circuit  rider  is  strikingly 
illustrated  by  this  incident  of  early  Methodism  in  Georgia, 
which  is  given  in  several  histories :  "Richard  Nolley,  a  na- 
tive of  South  Carolina,  and  a  noted  evangelist,  after  camp- 
ing in  the  woods  among  wild  beasts  eleven  nights  in  suc- 
cession, while  exploring  his  new  circuit,  at  last  struck  the 
Tombigbee  River ;  and,  noticing  a  fresh  wagontrack,  was 
inspired  with  the  hope  that  he  soon  might  find  a  soul  saved 
or  that  needed  salvation.  He  soon  came  upon  an  emigrant 
family,  which  had  just  selected  the  spot  where  they  were 
to  make  their  future  home.  The  man  was  feeding  his 
horses  and  his  wife  arranging  the  supper.  As  Nolley  rode 
up,  the  astonished  emigrant  exclaimed :  "What !  are  you 
here?'  ''I  am  here,  sir;  but  I  have  not  the  happiness  of 
your  acquaintance,  I  am  sorry  to  say.  Where,  sir,  have  you 
known  me?' 

"I  have  never  seen  you  before,  but  I  know  you  are  a 
Methodist  preacher,  and  I  am  amazed  that  you  have  found 
me  so  soon.  It  is  only  two  years  ago  that  I  left  Virginia 
and  settled  in  Georgia  to  get  away  from  Methodist  preach- 


90  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

ers ;  but  you  hunted  me  out,  and  in  Georgia  got  my  wife 
and  daughter  into  your  Church.  Then  I  left  Georgia  for 
this  place,  sure  that  I  would  be  rid  of  you  forever ;  but  here 
you  are  before  I  have  had  one  night's  peace.'  'My  friend,' 
said  Nolley,  'go  where  you  may,  earth,  heaven,  and  per- 
haps elsewhere,  you  will  find  Methodist  preachers,  and  you 
had  better  be  at  peace  with  them.'  Of  course  he  capitulated 
on  the  spot." 

PASSION  TO   REACH   MEN. 

Thus  Methodism  went  after  men  where  they  were ;  went 
into  the  fields  and  shops ;  went  into  the  wilderness  and  in 
slums ;  set  up  its  pulpit  in  kitchen,  barn  and  loft ;  went  into 
the  woods  and  camped  with  the  multitudes ;  made  the  groves 
temples  of  God,  and  vocal  with  such  song  as  moved  men  to 
pentitence  and  tears. 

Methodism  showed  a  supreme  passion  to  reach  all  men ; 
never  shut  itself  in  with  classes,  but  went  for  the  masses ; 
reached  them  one  by  one,  through  trials  and  labors  almost 
beyond  belief.  Where  in  religious  history  can  the  achieve- 
ments of  these  itinerants  find  a  parallel?  Wonders  of  grace 
and  transforming  power  over  hardened  men,  redeeming  them 
from  a  low,  coarse,  ignorant,  unmoral  civilization  to  the 
higher  life. 

Methodism  brought  men  in  close  touch  with  the  living, 
saving  power  of  Christ,  with  the  gospel  of  the  pierced  hands, 
able  to  lift  men  out  of  vilest  sin  and  shame,  and  to  heal 
them.  Who  can  estimate  the  influence  of  the  great  re- 
vivals in  rude  communities,  among  coarse  and  unrestrained 
men,  away  from  civilization,  cut  off  from  all  appeals  to  the 
higher  life. 

The  Methodist  preacher  came  with  his  appeal  to  con- 
science. With  his  hope  of  a  real  heaven;  with  his  warning 
to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  He  made  his  high  appeal 
to  the  consciousness  of  immortality  in  every  man.  In  the 
great  revivals,  coarse,  hardened  men  to  whom  the  appeal  to 
the  intellect  was  vain ;  who  would  not  hear  the  argument 
for  miracles,  saw  before  them  living  miracles  of  penitence, 
miracles  of  grace,  miracles  of  transformation  through  a 
strange,  supernatural  power.  Hardened  men,  with  natures 
burned  to  a  crisp  in  the  heat  of  devilish  passion,  they  saw 
before  their  very  eyes,  subdued,  purified,  touched  with  the 
power  of  an  unearthly  life,  bearing  witness  to  an  experience 
in  which  "the  spirit  answers  to  the  blood  and  tells  me  I  am 
born  of  God." 


WESLKY  BI-CENTENARY.  91 

Men  in  the  midst  of  the  earthy  were  brought  face  to  face 
with  God ;  the  power  of  the  world  to  come  were  brought  to 
bear  upon  them ;  the  reality  of  heaven  and  hell  sounded 
forth  in  sermons  burning  with  conviction,  blazing  with  livid 
rhetoric  and  Scriptural  power.  Men  heard  and  heeded  the 
call  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

These  itinerant  preachers  threw  their  very  lives  into  the 
task ;  men  who  "labored  as  if  the  judgment  fires  were  about 
to  break  out  on  the  world  and  time  end  with  their  day." 
They  counted  not  their  lives  dear  unto  them.  And  r.t  what 
cost  these  wide,  rude,  sparsely  settled  regions  were  saved 
to  civilization  and  religion  may  be  realized  when  we  are  told 
that  in  these  hard  years  of  conquest,  one-third  of  the  Metho- 
dist preachers  died  before  they  reached  thirty  years  of  age, 
and  fully  two-thirds  before  twelve  years  of  this  trying  itine- 
rant life  had  passed.  They  sacrificed  their  lives,  but  they, 
in  a  large  measure,  saved  a  civilization. 

A  FORCE  IN  SHAPING  AMERICAN  CIVILIZATION. 

The  Methodism  of  John  Wesley  not  only  saved  a  civiliza- 
tion, but  by  its  loyalty  and  patriotism,  its  educational  ideals 
and  achievements  ;  through  the  influence  of  its  press,  and 
its  leadership  in  moral  reform  movements,  has  been  the 
most  potent  organized  force  in  shaping  the  civilization  of 
America. 

The  inspiring  influence  of  Methodism  on  our  civilization 
has  been  felt,  through  its  patriotism  and  its  loyalty  to 
American  institutions.  In  the  very  founding  of  the  Nation, 
the  followers  of  John  Wesley,  the  first  organized  Episcopal 
Church  in  America,  were  the  first  Christian  delegation  to 
wait  on  George  Washington  with  assurances  of  devotion  to 
the  new  Republic.  As  Bancroft  says:  "At  peace  with  the 
institutions  of  the  country  in  which  they  prospered,  they 
v~--  +he  ready  friends  of  the  Union." 

/^'l  in  the  next  great  crisis,  Abraham  L:n~oln.  -\s  v-u- 
own  Henry  Grady  has  called  him,  the  typical  American, 
mingling  in  his  veins  the  blood  of  Puritan  and  Cavalier; 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  savior  of  our  Nation,  bore  grateful 
witness  to  the  influence  of  Methodist  numbers  and  prayers 
in  giving  us  back  a  united  country,  to  which  the  followers 
of  John  Wesley  in  Georgia,  as  I  can  testify  by  over  sixteen 
years  of  citizenship  here,  are  as  loyal  as  our  Methodists  in 
Ohio. 


92  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

It  was  Buckle  who  styled  Wesley  the  first  theological 
statesman.  His  American  followers  caught  his  spirit  of 
statesmanship.  Methodist  preachers  have  ever  been  broad 
and  practical  students  of  national  affairs,  and  in  every  moral 
movement  active  and  influential  as  citizens.  The  organized 
Conference  covering  by  stations  and  circuits,  every  corner 
of  the  land ;  the  methods  of  our  itinerancy ;  the  Nation-wide 
diocese  of  our  Bishops,  passing  like  flying  shuttles  through 
the  land,  have  not  only  served  to  make  the  warp  and  woof 
of  public  sentiment,  but  through  their  wide  knowledge  of 
conditions  have  fitted  Methodist  leaders  to  become  the  wise 
advisers  of  Presidents  and  statesmen. 

AS   AN   EDUCATIONAL   POWER. 

The  debt  of  American  civilization  to  the  educational 
agencies  of  Methodism  need  not  be  more  strongly  stated 
than  in  that  tribute  of  Edward  Everett,  "No  Church  in  this 
country  has  so  successfully  engaged  in  education,  as  the 
Methodist  Church." 

Our  American  Methodism  early  caught  the  spirit  of  Wes- 
ley who,  as  Farrar  testifies,  gave  a  great  impulse  both  to 
national  education  and  to  technical  education.  In  1784  the 
very  year  of  the  formal  organization  of  the  Church,  Coke 
and  Asbury  projected,  and,  the  next  year,  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  Cokesbury  College.  And  Methodists  have  been  at 
it  ever  since,  until  now  they  have  in  America  many  Institu- 
tions of  learning  with  grounds  and  buildings  and  endow- 
ments valued  at  many  millions  with  a  large  army  of  teachers 
and  scholars. 

Methodism  was  a  pioneer  in  education  in  the  vast  prarie 
wilderness  of  the  West.  McKendree  College  was  founded  in 
Illinois  in  1834,  the  first  college  in  all  that  immense  domain, 
with  John  Wesley  Merrill  as  President.  The  first  Chris- 
tian college  in  the  great  republic  of  Texas  was  established 
by  Martin  Ruter.  Although  Asbury's  ambition  to  found  a 
school  in  every  Conference  for  the  training  of  preachers  and 
people  has  hardly  been  realized,  yet  scores  of  such  schools 
have  been  organized,  and  though  often  meagerly  equipped, 
they  have  'given  opportunity  to  tens  of  thousands  of  stu- 
dents who  otherwise  would  have  had  no  chance  for  educa- 
tion. They  have  thus  been  a  strong  factor  in  giving  en- 
lightenment and  leadership  to  our  civilization. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  93 

PIONEERS  OF  A  CHEAP  PRESS. 

Books  are  the  great  civilizers.  Methodism  has  shaped 
the  thought  and  spirit  of  America's  civilization  through  the 
multiplied  millions  of  books  and  periodicals,  sent  out  like 
leaves  of  healing  into  every  corner  of  the  Nation.  In  this 
Methodism  has  simply  wrought  in  the  spirit  of  Wesley,  who 
was  the  pioneer  of  the  cheap  press.  Farrar  gives  John  Wes- 
ley the  credit  of  inaugurating  this  spread  of  religious  in- 
struction by  weekly  periodicals  and  the  cheap  press,  with  all 
its  stupendous  consequences.  Wesley  went  at  it  in  a  prac- 
tical way.  To  all  his  preachers  he  said,  "See  th^it  every  So- 
ciety is  supplied  with  books,  some  of  which  ought  to  be  in 
every  house."  Methodists  heeded  this  wise  word  of  their 
founder. 

The  itinerant  was  the  first  book  canvasser.  He  was  a 
traveling  book  store.  Into  the  wilderness  he  brought  the 
torch  of  knowledge ;  awakened  the  minds  of  youth ;  saved 
from  ignorance  and  sottishness,  a  generation  in  the  wilder- 
ness. He  was  thus  a  herald  of  civilization. 

Here  along  this  same  shore  in  Charleston,  John  Wesley 
published  the  first  of  his  long  list  of  200  volumes.  His 
American  followers  took  up  the  work  of  publishing  in  1789. 
Beginning  with  a  borrowed  capital  of  $600,  the  net  value  of 
the  publishing  plants  of  American  Methodism  is  now  nearly 
five  millions  of  dollars. 

Not  only  has  it  the  greatest  publishing  house  in  the 
world,  but  it  is  a  significant  fact  to  be  named  in  this  con- 
nection, that  two  of  the  greatest  American  publishing  houses 
of  the  last  century  in  New  York  and  in  Boston  had  Metho- 
dists as  their  heads.  All  these  publications  have  been  on  a 
high  moral  plane  inculcating  morality,  temperance  and  loyal- 
ty to  high  ideals.  Who  can  estimate  the  influence  of  such 
a  press  on  civilization? 

SAVING  TO  CIVILIZATION  MILLIONS  OF 
NEGROES. 

When  the  influence  of  Methodism  on  American  civilization 
is  recorded,  one  of  its  most  significant  triumphs  must  be 
found  in  its  christianizing  of  millions  of  American  Negroes, 
and  in  the  restraining,  uplifting,  redeeming  influence  of 
Methodism  in  fitting  these  millions  for  the  duties  of  free- 
dom and  civilization  that  were  suddenly  thrust  upon  them. 

No  greater  strain  on  the  civilization  of  a  democracy  could 
be  conceived.  Think  of  four  millions  of  blacks  suddenly  re- 


94  WESLEY  HI-CENTENARY. 

leased  from  bondage.  Four  million  slaves,  given  without 
preparation,  the  fearful  boon  of  freedom ;  four  millions  un- 
tutored and  irresponsible,  suddenly  clothed  with  citizenship ; 
old  ties  that  held  them  broken ;  old  masters  who  controlled 
and  guided,  now  without  direction,  over  them  and  their 
children ;  a  race  in  its  childhood,  undeveloped,  left  to  its  own 
free  will  and  direction,  and  during  Reconstruction  led  often 
by  scheming  politicians  and  designing  men. 

What  possibilities  here  in  a  warm  heaited,  inflammable 
race  for  insurrection,  revenge,  blood-shed ;  yea,  as  Bishop 
Haygood  suggested,  what  possibilities  in  certain  sections  of 
the  horrors  of  San  Domingo.  Was  ever  such  a  strain  put 
upon  a  civilization?  Was  ever  an  untried  race  sub- 
jected to  such  a  test? 

After  living  face  to  face  with  this  problem  for  a  score  of 
years,  more  than  sixteen  years  as  a  citizen  of  Georgia,  I 
affirm  that  the  Christian  religion  was  the  one  supreme  in- 
fluence that  restrained,  controlled  and  guided  into  channels 
of  order  and  peace  and  the  lives  of  these  millions,  in  the 
order  of  Providence  set  free.  The  Church  became  the  center 
of  their  entire  life,  civil,  political,  educational,  social,  as  well 
religious.  And  Methodism  through  its  missionary  zeal  un- 
der slavery,  by  its  educational  and  religious  work  follow- 
ing Emancipation,  as  well  as  by  its  very  organization,  polity 
and  evangelical  spirit,  was  above  all  other  Churches  provi- 
dentially fitted  for  the  task  of  saving  to  civilization  millions 
of  a  race  threatened  with  relapse  into  barbarism.  By  its 
Conference  organization,  by  the  careful  oversight  of  Pre- 
siding Elders,  by  the  class  meeting  for  the  people,  and  a 
rigid  Episcopal  oversight,  a  higher  type  of  religious  charac- 
ter in  preachers  and  people  his  been  been  possible  than  in 
independent  churches,  where  the  government  was  loose  and 
without  the  careful  leadership  and  oversight  of  officers  in 
authority. 

Whence  came  these  Negro  preachers  and  class  leaders, 
who  in  this  critical  period  at  the  close  of  the  war,  effectively 
reached  and  held  the  multitudes  of  roving  freedmen,  and 
who  through  the  troublous  reconstruction  davs  gave  Chris- 
tian restraint  and  direction  to  their  lives,  laying  broad  and 
deep  the  foundations  for  colored  Methodism  throughout 
the  South ;  men  who  knew  God,  men  with  minds  richly  stored 
with  God's  word ;  men  who  prayed  with  power  and  fervor, 
who  preached  the  word  with  grace  and  saving  power. 

Whence  came  the  Cordozas,  the  Bulkleys,  the  Revels,  the 
Lanes,  the  Holseys,  the  Gaines,  the  Clintons ;  preachers  just 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  95 

out  from  slavery,  who  with  strange  power  subdued  king- 
doms, wrought  righteousness,  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions, 
out  of  weakness  were  made  strong?  Whence  these  thou- 
sands of  preachers  and  class  leaders  ready  for  the  task  of 
laying  the  foundations  and  building  up  an  Episcopal  Metho- 
dism among  Negroes  now  numbering  in  its  several 
branches,  1,729,597  members  with  1,248,000  children  in  the 
Sunday  Schools ;  an  army  of  three  millions  of  black  Metho- 
dists, singing : 

"We  are  the  sons  of  Wesley, 
Wre  are     the     sons  of  God." 

Whence  came  at  the  close  of  the  war  these  hundreds  of 
Methodist  preachers  and  teachers  of  the  Negro  race,  men 
who  knew  the  Bible,  men  who,  with  pathos  and  power,  could 
sing  the  hymns  of  Charles  Wesley,  men  who  could  testify 
to  a  rich  and  genuine  experience  of  the  saving  grace  and  the 
comforting  joy  of  the  Lord  Jesus?  Whence  came  they? 

With  reverant  heart  and  uncovered  head,  I.  have  stood 
before  that  plain  slab  in  the  churchyard  at  Columbia,  S.  C., 
which  bears  on  its  face  the  simple  inscription : 

"William  Capers,  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South,  founder  of  Mission  to  the  Slaves."  To  the 
heroic  missionary  zeal  of  this  man  of  God,  Methodism  and 
American  civilization  owe  an  unspeakable  debt  of  gratitude ; 
for  through  his  leadership  Methodism  began  in  a  larger  way 
her  Christian  work  among  the  blacks  of  the  South. 

Would  you  catch  the  spirit  of  this  missionary  and  prophet 
of  God,  then  hear  his  impassioned  appeal  before  the  last 
General  Conference  of  our  united  Methodism  :  "When  we  tell 
you  that  we  preach  to  one  hundred  thousand  slaves  in  our 
missionary  field,  we  only  announce  the  beginning  of  our 
work  when  we  add  that  there  are  now  two  hundred  thousand 
within  our  reach  who  have  no  Gospel  unless  we  give  it  to 
them,  it  is  still  but  the  same  announcement  of  the  opening  of 
that  wide  and  effectual  door,  which  was  so  long  closed,  and  so 
lately  has  begun  to  be  opened  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pel by  our  ministry  to  a  numerous  and  destitute  portion  of 
the  people.  Oh,  close  not  this  door !  Life  or  death  we  will 
never  desert  that  work  to  which  we  know  that  God  called 
us."  The  outcome  of  such  a  zeal  and  devotion  was  that  in 
1861  Southern  Methodism  had  over  200,000  colored  mem- 
bers and  180,000  children  in  Sunday  Schools.  Such  was 
the  estimate  of  the  Church  upon  this  work,  that  in  their  ad- 
dress to  the  General  Conference,  the  Bishops  said :  "We 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 


regard  these  missions  as  the  crowning  glory  of  the 
Church."  And  the  General  Conference  in  its  address  to 
pastors  responded :  "The  salvation  of  the  colored  people  in 
our  midst  is  the  primary  duty  of  the  Church." 

I  ask  you  to  consider  this  work  of  American  Methodism 
among  the  black  people,  not  primarily,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  to  estimate  the  effect  on 
our  civilization,  of  the  educative  and  redemptive  influence 
of  this  missionary  work  on  the  millions  of  American  Ne- 
groes. 

Black  and  white  worshipped  in  the  same  churcli  together. 
They  met  in  communion  at  the  same  sacramental  table. 
They  listened  to  the  same  preaching.  They  breathed  forth 
their  spirit  in  the  same  noble  hymns  of  Wesley.  Their  minds 
were  stored  with  Scripture.  They  wove  Psalm  and  prophecy 
into  mortal  melodies.  Fortunate  indeed  for  this  race  and 
for  the  civilization  of  America,  when  there  came  upon  it  the 
strain  of  these  millions  fresh  from  slavery,  without  prepara- 
tion for  citizenship,  that  a  quarter  of  a  million  had  been 
trained,  even  though  crudely,  in  Methodist  discipline,  doc- 
trines and  moral  ideals.  The  record  of  the  Negro  race,  under 
the  circumstances,  is  one  of  the  miracles  of  history.  And  of 
all  the  single  contributions  of  Methodism  to  the  civiliza- 
tion of  America,  the  gathering  of  three  millions  of  these  black 
people  into  well  ordered  church  life  and  Sunday  School  train- 
ing, within  a  little  more  than  a  generation  after  Emancipa- 
tion, must  take  important  rank  among  the  largest  and  most 
far  reaching  achievements  of  our  American  Metho- 
dism. 

A  REFORM  MOVEMENT. 

The  influence  of  American  Methodism  in  the  moral  re- 
form movements  that  have  shaped  our  civilization  is  be- 
yond estimate.  In  this  form  of  leadership  the  Church  was 
simply  fulfilling  the  spirit  of  John  Wesley,  who  declared  the 
purpose  of  God  in  raising  up  Methodism  was  "not  to  form 
a  new  sect,  but  to  reform  the  Nation,  particularly  the 
Church." 

It  is  not  my  province  to  show  how  the  English  Wesleyan 
movement  gave  birth  to  moral  reformations  that  according 
to  historian  Green  "recreated  England."  Austin  Phelps  has 
even  said  that  the  rise  of  Methodism  was  the  birth  of  a 
spiritual  reform.  It  has  been  what  new  blood  is  to  fallen 
dvnasties  and  clecadent  races. 


WESLEY  B[-CENTENARY.  97 

The  moral  condition  of  the  people  of  this  Nation  at  the 
opening  of  the  last  century  needed  just  such  a  church  and 
ministry,  which,  along  with  revived  spiritual  life,  carried  with 
them  the  forces  of  moral  reformation  and  cleans- 
ing. 

The  very  people  and  preachers  who  first  gave  Methodism 
to  America  were  the  products  and  witnesses  of  such  a  moral 
reform.  They  were  emigrants  from  Ireland.  They  were 
not,  however,  native  Celts.  Their  fathers  had  been  driven 
from  the  Palatine  on  the  Rhine  by  Papal  troops.  They  took 
refuge  in  Ireland.  A  Teutonic  population,  speaking  their 
own  language,  for  half  a  century  they  lived  without  pastors. 
They  became  demoralized  and  were  noted  for  drunkeness, 
profanity  and  utter  neglect  of  religion.  Methodism  wrought 
a  transformation  among  them.  And  they  became  a  serious, 
sober  people,  showing  a  diligence  that  turned  their  land  into 
a  garden. 

Such  were  the  antecedents  of  the  men  who  founded  the 
Methodist  movement  in  America.  They  had  seen  what  God 
was  able  to  do  in  the  moral  reformation  of  peoples,  and  s'o 
Methodism  started  out  here,  not  as  a  doctrinal  movement 
merely  or  a  formal  religion,  but  as  a  power  that  touches  the 
whole  life  of  man  in  the  interests  of  real  civilization. 

Methodism  therefore  touched  our  civilization  on  its  moral 
side.  It  was  not  given  merely  to  other  worldliness.  It  had 
to  do  with  the  life  that  now  is,  the  whole  man  in  his  variou? 
relations.  And  so  it  follows  that  the  testimony  of  Green  is 
especially  true  of  the  Methodists  of  America : 

"The  Methodists  themselves  were  the  least  result  of  the 
Methodist  revival.  The  noblest  result  of  the  religious  re- 
vival was  the  steady  attempt  which  has  never  ceased  from 
that  day  to  this  to  remedy  the  guilt,  the  ignorance,  the  phy- 
sical suffering,  the  social  degradation  of  the  profligate  and 
the  poor." 

This  was  the  outcome  of  Wesley's  teaching  "Do  all  the 
good  you  can  to  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men."  The  fact  is, 
Methodism  through  its  classes  was  an  organized  philan- 
thropy. Methodists  came  to  sympathize,  not  merely  with 
human  conditions,  but,  through  these  close  relations,  they 
sympathized  with  human  nature. 

LEADERSHIP  IN  TEMPERANCE  REFORM. 

Most  marked  has  been  the  influence  oh  our  civilization 
of  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  temperance  among  American 
Methodists.  Wesley  began  this  great  reform,  when  in  1743 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 


he  prepared  the  general  rule  for  the  guidance  of  the  com- 
ing millions  of  Methodists,  warning  them  against  "drunken- 
ness, buying  or  selling  spirituous  liquors,  or  drinking  them 
except  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity." 

As  early  as  April,  1780,  at  the  Preachers'  Conference  in 
Baltimore,  the  23rd  Minute  reads:  "Do  we  disapprove  of 
the  practice  of  distilling  grain  into  liquor?  Shall  we  disown 
our  friends  who  will  not  renounce  the  practice?"  Answer, 
"Yes." 

By  1783  Methodism  had  made  advance  against  rum  and 
Question  2  reads :  "Should  our  friends  be  permitted  to  make 
spirituous  liquors,  sell  or  drink  them  in  drams?"  Answer 
"By  no  means.  We  think  it  wrong  in  its  nature  and  conse- 
quences ;  and  we  desire  all  our  preachers  to  teach  the  peo- 
ple by  precept  and  example  to  put  away  this  evil." 

At  the  North  Methodists  have  set  up  the  standard  of  to- 
tal abstinence  as  the  rule  for  the  individual,  and  complete 
legal  prohibition  as  the  duty  of  civil  government.  And  what 
stronger  expression  against  the  rum  traffic  could  be  uttered 
than  that  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Church,  South : 

"We  are  opposed  to  all  forms  of  license  of  this  iniquity 
whether  the  same  be  'high'  or  Mow'.  It  cannot  be  put  so 
'high'  that  the  prayers  of  God's  people  for  its  suppression 
will  not  rise  above  it,  nor  so  low',  though  it  makes  its  bed 
in  hell,  that  the  shrieks  of  the  souls  lost  through  its  accursed 
agency  will  not  descend  beneath  it."  Largely  through  the 
influence  of  Methodist  leadership,  'more  than  one  Southern 
State  has  become,  through  local  option,  pratically  through- 
out its  borders,  prohibition  territory.  . 

Methodism  in  the  sweep  and  breadth  of  her  reform  move- 
ments has  liberated  woman,  and  what  a  crowning  glory  to 
Methodism  that  she  has  given  to  American  civilization  the 
founder,  the  prophetess  and  the  reigning  queen  in  the  most 
potent  organized  crusade  movement  against  rum.  The  gift 
of  the  South  to  Ohio,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Thompson,  was  the 
founder  of  the  Ohio  crusade  movement,  that  swept  like  a 
prairie  fire  over  the  land  and  awakened  the  Nation  to  the 
possibilities  of  woman  in  her  warfare  against  the  saloon. 
This  developed  into  the  mightiest  organization  against  rum. 
The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  through  which 
the  voice  of  Frances  Williard  sounded  over  the  Nation  like 
that  of  a  prophetess  of  God.  And  in  the  White  Hous^. 
Methodism  gave'to  the  Nation  the  uncrowned  queen,  Lucy 
Webb  Hayes,  who  dared  from  the  official  table  to  banish  the 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  90 

wine  cup,  and  thus  set  the  example  of  Temperance  to  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth. 

The  saloon  is  the  greatest  organized  menace  to  our  civili- 
zation. American  Methodism  stands  solid  against  rum.  By 
its  aggressive  and  uncompromising  standards ;  by  its  num- 
bers and  balance  of  power  and  influence  in  thousands  of  com- 
munities ;  by  the  fearless  leadership  of  its  preachers,  Metho- 
dism is  the  most  feared  and  the  worst  hated  foe  of  the  liquor 
traffic. 

It  is  fitting  on  this  Bi-centenary  that  we  have  gathered  here 
at  the  scene  of  Wesley's  labors  in  America  to  celebrate  the 
signal  achievements  of  Wesley's  followers  in  doing  their  part 
in  the  saving  and  shaping  of  American  civilization.  But  our 
chief  duty  is  to  address  ourselves  on  this  day,  with  a  fresh 
sense  of  consecration,  to  the  opportunities  and  demands  of 
the  future. 

A  great  historian  of  Wesley  long  ago  wrote :  "John  Wes- 
ley will  exercise  more  influence,  centuries,  and  perhaps,  mil- 
leniums  hence,  than  any  other  man  of  his  age." 

Shall  this  prophecy  be  realized  ?  To  this  the  sons  of  Wes- 
ley must  make  answer.  Upon  you  the  ends  of  the  world  have 
come.  What  answer  will  you  make  for  the  civilization  of 
the  twentieth  century. 

To  all  human  vision  Anglo-American  civilization  is  to 
dominate  the  future.  The  center  of  the  wealth,  the  power 
and  dominance  of  'he  English-spe.ik  n /  peoples  is  in  Amer- 
ica. Serious  and  of  far-reaching  significance  the  word  of  that 
ecclesiastical  statesman :  "Principles  of  strategic  wisdom 
should  lead  us  to  look  on  these  United  States  as,  first  and 
foremost,  the  chosen  seat  of  enterprise  for  the  world's  con- 
version. Forecasting  the  future  of  Christianity,  as  states- 
men forecast  the  destiny  of  nations,  we  must  believe  that  it 
will  be  what  the  future  of  this  century  is  to  be. 
As  goes  America,  so  goes  the  world,-  in  all  that  is  vital 
to  its  moral  welfare."  There  is  no  stronger  organizer!  evan- 
gelical force  in  shaping  that  civilization  than  the  followers 
of  John  Wesley.  Representing  a  membership  of  six  and  one- 
half  millions  in  America  alone,  and  adherents  to  the  number 
of  twenty-two  and  one-half  millions;  touching  every  fourth 
man,  your  influence  is  dominant,  unmeasured  your  responsi- 
bility." 


WESLE\  BI-CENTENARY.  101 


SUNDAY,  THE  BIRTHDAY  OF  WESLEY. 


Love  feast  in  Wesley's  Honor  Celebrated  After  Stvle  Instituted 

in  1739. 

In  the  Sunday-school  room  of  Wesley  Monumental 
Church  yesterday  morning  a  band  of  probably  200  ministers 
and  laymen  joined  in  what  is  known  to  all  Methodists  as 
a  love  feast.  This  service,  instituted  by  John  Wesley  in  1739, 
has  been  a  great  source  of  strength  to  the  denomination  and 
has  served  to  bring  more  closely  together  the  men  and  wom- 
en who  are  united  under  the  banner  of  Methodism. 

The  love  feast  began  at  9  o'clock  and  was  led  by  Rev. 
G.  G.  N.  McDonell  and  participated  in  by  nearly  every  per- 
son present.  There  is  no  set  order  for  conducting  such  a 
service  and  beginning  with  prayer  the  hour  was  passed  in 
singing  and  personal  talks,  the  assemblage  being  one  big 
Methodist  family,  with  no  secrets  from  each  other. 

During  the  service  the  communion,  bread  and  water,  was 
then  taken  by  all  and  the  significance  of  the  act  was  fully 
and  clearly  appreciated.  The  service  will  be  remembered 
by  all  who  took  part  in  it,  as  an  event  of  importance  and 
great  interest  in  the  Wesley  bi-centenary  celebration. 

Among  the  sermons  delivered  in  the  different  churches 
we  give  the  one  delivered  in  Grace  Church  by  Rev.  John  F. 
Goucher,  D.  D. 


THE  PROVIDENTIAL  PREPARATION  OF    WESLEY. 


"Thou  shalt  guide  me  with  Thy  counsel,  and  afterward 
receive  me  to  glory."     Psalm  73-24. 

^  The  truth  of  God's  Word  has  continual  demonstration. 
Every  life  bears  testimony  to  its.  verity.  Most  men  con- 
firm the  statement  of  Christ,  "\\ithout  me  ye  can  do  noth- 
ing," a  few  justify  the  confidence  expressed  by  the  psalmist 
in  our  text.  This  wide  divergence  is  not  because  God  dis- 
criminates against  some  and  in  favor  of  others.  It  is  deter- 
mined by  man's  personal  attitude  to  God,  for  success  r  ap- 
portioned to  cooperation.  But  few  attain  succ~ss  became 
the  many  will  not  bide  His  discipline  and  profit  by  His  coun- 


102  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

sel.  God  includes  all  men  in  His  plan  and  gives  a  personal 
commission  to  each  when  He  calls  him  into  life.  Prepara- 
tion, efficiency  and  reward  are  included  in  the  Divine  provis- 
ion. "Thou  shalt  guide  me  with  Thy  counsel,  and  afterward 
receive  me  to  glory." 

To  "guide"  implies  progressive  adjustment  to  an  objec- 
tive. "Counsel"  is  instruction  or  aid  given  to  direct  the 
judgment  or  conduct  of  another.  The  providenc-a  of  God 
is  so  administered  as  to  instruct  and  aid  those  who  "follow 
on  to  know  the  Lord."  Obedience  is  the  organ  of  spiritual 
perception,  as  occupancy  is  the  law  of  possession. 

As  illustrating  our  text  and  appropriate  to  this  occasion, 
we  invite  you  to  meditate  with  us  upon  the  providential  pre- 
paration of  John  Wesley  to  be  the  leader  in  spreading  scrip- 
tural holiness  throughout  the  world. 

The  phrase  "scriptural  holiness"  conveys  to  us  a  definite 
idea,  a  rational  description  of  the  Christian  life.  It  was  not 
so  in  England  when  Wesley  was  young.  The  leader  required 
special,  varied  and  extensive  preparation  before  he  could 
perceive  the  ideal,  receive  the  experience  or  be  qualified  to 
spread  the  doctrine.  The  mass  of  the  people  were  ignorant, 
brutalized  by  drink  and  sensuality,  practical  Atheists,  whose 
conduct  knew  no  restraint,  but  the  absence  of  opportunity. 
The  more  intelligent  and  self-respecting  were  churchmen 
rather  than  Christians.  The' could  repeat  prayers,  creed  and 
catechism,  but  had  no  adequate  perception  of  their  spiritual 
import.  They  were  ignorant  of  the  vital  significance,  the 
transforming  power  of  salvation.  The  cathedral  was  to  them 
the  symbol  of  Christianity  and  ceremony  was  their  substi- 
tute for  piety.  The  most  devout  were  legalists  without  spirit- 
ual insight,  trusting  to  works  of  mercy,  fasting  and  vigils  as 
the  basis  of  present  peace  and  the  ground  of  future 
hope. 

The  Holy  Club,  ridiculed,  maligned,  persecuted  for  their 
austerities  and  ministries,  knew  nothing  of  salvation  by  faith. 
Seventeen  centuries  had  lapsed  since  Christ  and  His  apostles 
had  delineated  and  reiterated,  embodied  and  exemplified 
scriptural  holiness,  yet  so  called  Christian  England  was  de- 
void of  the  experience  and  ignorant  of  the  doctrine. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  understand  the  opposition  of  the 
clergy,  the  persecution  of  the  ignorant,  the  hatred,  contume- 
ly and  abuse  which  developed  almost  everywhere  the  doc- 
trine was  preached.  These  at  least  suggest  the  divergence 
between  the  times  and  its  requirements.  The  knowl- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  103 

edge  and  experience  of  the  doctrine  must  precede  its 
spread. 

Scriptural  holiness,  sanctification,  the  spiritual  life,  what- 
ever you  may  be  pleased  to  term  it,  is  a  distinct  work  of 
grace,  differing  from  justification  which  always  precedes  or 
accompanies  it.  Justification  is  the  work  of  God  done  for 
us.  It  has  to  do  with  the  legal  aspect  of  the  life  we  have 
lived,  pardoning  its  offences,  canceling  its  demerit.  Sancti- 
fication is  the  work  of  God  done  in  us.  It  has  to  do  with 
the  practical  character  of  the  life  we  are  living,  making  pos- 
sible its  conformity  to  the  divine  requirements.  The  former 
is  judicial,  substituting  or  attributing  a  legal  righteousness. 
The  latter  is  creative,  beginning  with  regeneration  and  con- 
tinuing in  spiritual  living.  In  both  the  love  of  God  is  the 
source,  the  atonement  of  Christ  the  efficient  cause,  personal 
faith  in  Him  as  Lord  and  Saviour  the  sole  condition  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  the  divine  agent.  God  never  justifies  a  soul  He 
does  not  regenerate. 

Justification  is  a  centrifugal  or  individualizing  force  by 
which  each  one  is  differentiated  from  all  others,  and  held  re- 
sponsible for  and  adjudged  according  to  his  personal  record 
and  relation  to  Christ.  It  develops  personality  and  makes 
class-government,  or  the  merging  of  the  individual  in  the 
mass,  impossible.  Sanctification,  through  which  we  conform 
to  and  cooperate  with  God,  is  a  centripetal  or  coordinating 
force.  It  establishes  reciprocal  relations,  develops  solidarity, 
conserves  government  and  destroys  anarchy.  The  two  hold 
a  man  in  his  true  orbit,  and  make  possible  the  development 
of  his  richest  personality  through  his  fullest  ministry. 

In  order  that  Wesley  should  be  brought  to  a  clear  per- 
ception and  acceptance,  to  the  knowledge  and  experience  of 
scriptural  holiness,  it  was  essential  that  he  should  possess 
in  large  measure  three  characteristics. 

i.       Discrimination. 

II.  Hospitality  to  truth. 

III.  Thorough   and   comprehensive  scholarship. 

I.  Discrimination  or  appreciation  of  relations,  is  essen- 
tial to  accuracy  of  adjustment.  The  more  intricate  the  re- 
lations the  greater  the  need  for  it.  Exactness  of  thought, 
clearness  of  perception,  reverence  for  God  and  consideration 
for  one's  fellows  are  impossible  without  it.  More  persons 
<"rr  in  discrimination  than  in  desire,  in  application  than  in 
intention.  Matthew  Arnold  says,  "Of  discrimination  the 
world  is  impatient ;  it  chafes  against  it,  rails  at  it,  insults  it, 
hates  it ;  it  ends  by  receiving  its  influence  and  by  undergoing 


104  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

its  law.    This  quality  at  last    inexorably  corrects  the  world's 
blunders  and  focuses  the  world's  ideals." 

The  environment  and  training  of  John  Wesley's  childhood 
were  peculiarly  adapted  to  develop  in  him  this  power  of  dis- 
crimination and  regard  for  relations.  His  was  a  Christian 
home,  where  God  was  revered,  conscience  exalted,  the  rela- 
tions of  parents  and  children  defined  and  mutually  respected. 
There  love,  the  great  discriminator,  abounding  in  judgment, 
served  with  conscience,  ever  ready  and  seldom  at  a  loss  for 
right  counsel  and  wise  ministry.  His  father  was  a  man  of 
varied  learning,  much  culture,  great  devotion  and  an  ardent 
churchman.  His  mother  was  a  woman  of  remarkable  judg- 
ment, exceptional  penetration  and  clearness  of  thought,  and 
great  executive  ability.  She  was  the  more  forceful  character, 
but  such  was  her  discrimination  that  she  never  disregarded 
her  husband's  official  superiority  in  the  church,  his  dignity 
in  the  community,  or  his  headship  in  the  family.  The  con- 
ditions of  the  large  family  at  the  Epworth  Rectory  were  oft- 
times  straightened,  for  while  the  rector's  stipend  was  limi- 
ted, he  cared  for  his  aged  mother  and  was  generous  to  the 
poor.  Mutual  concessions  and  self-denial  made  frequent, 
varied,  persistent  and  imperative  demands  for  discriminative 
skill  in  appreciating  relations.  Respectful  to  his  seniors, 
careful  of  his  juniors,  loved  by  and  loving  all,  "Jackey,"  as 
his  family  affectionately  called  him,  developed  that  keen  dis- 
crimination and  high  appreciation  of  facts,  things,  persons 
and  relations  which  were  so  essential  to  his  great  commis- 
sion. He  became  a  skillful  logician,  perceiving  the  finest 
discriminations  and  subtlest  relations  in  thought.  In  his 
practical  relations  to  life  he  was  remarkable  for  his  reverence, 
consideration  and  influence  over  men.  He  never  ignored  nor 
shirked  the  humblest  or  most  arduous  service  by  which  he 
might  honor  God  or  serve  his  fellows.  With  more  than  in- 
tuitive accuracy  in  "seeing  where  the  right  doth  lie,"  authori- 
ty and  command  were  accorded  him  wherever  he  was  known. 
Mr.  Gambold,  an  intimate  acquaintance,  wrote  concerning 
him,  "What  supported  this  uniform  vigor. was  the  care  he 
took  to  consider  well  every  affair  before  he  engaged  in  it, 
making  all  his  decisions  in  the  fear  of  God,  without  passion, 
hurry  or  self  confidence,  for  though  he  had  naturally  a  very 
clear  apprehension,  yet  his  exact  prudence  depended  more 
upon  his  humility  and  singleness  of  heart.  He  had,  I  think, 
something  of  authority  in  his  countenance,  yet  he  never  as- 
sumed anything  to  himself  above  his  companions,  any  of 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY  105 

them  might  speak  their  mind  and  their  words  were,  as 
strictly  regarded  by  him  as  his  words  were  by  them." 

John  Wesley  shared  the  responsibilities  and  sacrifices  in- 
cident to  his  large  family  where  he  was  the  fifteenth  of  nine- 
teen children.  Circumscribed  and  unified  by  common  limi- 
tations and  inspired  by  common  desires,  the  children  of  the 
rector  suffered  together  and  rejoiced  together  with  their 
loving  mother  and  devoted  father.  "They  had  the  common 
fame  of  being  the  most  loving  family  in  the  county  of  Lin- 
coln." It  was  as  natural  for  him  within  these  conditions  to 
enthrone  a  centripetal  force  and  develop  responsive  to  some 
coordinating  principle,  which  would  make  for  solidarity,  as 
it  was  for  Luther  a  member  of  a  small  family,  with  the  aus- 
tere virtue  and  harsh  treatment  of  his  hard  working  parents, 
the  cruelty  of  his  brutal  teachers,  making  his  way  alone 
in  the  world  at  fourteen  bv  begging  or  singing,  immured  in 
a  monastary,  or  segregated  by  the  persecution  which  focused 
upon  him,  to  enthrone  a  centrifugal  force  and  develop  re- 
sponsive to  some  individualizing  principle,  which  would  reg- 
ister itself  in  intense  personalitv.  Wesley  was' being  provi- 
dentially prepared  to  become  the  apostle  of  scriptural  holi- 
ness or  sanctification  bv  the  Spirit,  as  Luther  had  been  to 
become  the  apostle  of  justification  by  faith. 

IT.  Hospitality  to  truth,  that  is  cordial  acceptance  of 
truth  and  loyalty  to  it,  was  essential  to  him  if  he  were  to 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  scriptural  holiness  and  soread  it 
throughout  the  land.  As  we  have  seen,  scriptural  holiness 
was  not  understood.  It  contradicted  the  teachings  and  be- 
lief of  contemporary  ecclesiastics.  It  condemned  the  almost 
universal  habits  of  even  the  devout.  It  was  mysterious  and 
perplexing,  being  a  spiritual  condition  realized  through  faith, 
and  manifested  in  grace,  but  opposed  by  ridicule,  abuse, 
ostracism  and  even  death.  The  knowledge  of  it  must  come, 
if  at  all,  as  a  discoverv  or  revelation  to  one  who  was  hospi- 
table to  and  would  loyally  entertain  truth  for  its  own 
sake. 

Weslev's  ancestors  were  such  as  to  secure  to  him,  so  far 
PS  it  might  be  derived  from  inheritance,  a  trend  towards 
hospitality  and  loyalty  to  truth.  His  great-grandfather, 
Bartholomew  Weslev,  after  serving  the  Established  Church 
in  several  parishes  under  Charles  I,  joined  the  Puritan  partv. 
TVrause  he  would  not  "conform"  he  was  ejected  from  his 
livino-  as  rector  of  Charmouth  in  1662.  Thereafter  he  lived 
bv  the  practice  of  medicine  which  h"  had  studied  at  the 
University.  A  persecuted  outcast,  not  allowed  by  "the  five 


106  WESLEY  Bf-CENTENARY. 

mile  act"  to  approach  within  five  miles  of  any  of  his  former 
parishes-  or  any  borough  town,  but  preaching  meanwhile  as 
he  had  opportunity,  he  died  about  1670,  "as  tender  hearte:! 
and  affectionate  as  he  had  been  pious  and  prudent." 

John  Wesley,  the  grand-father,  was  a  graduate  of  Ox- 
ford, and  especially  efficient  in  oriential  languages.  He  was 
conscientious  in  all  his  conduct,  a  zealous  promoter  of  gen- 
uine piety  both  in  himself  and  others.  He  was  a  lay  preach- 
er and  a  travelling  evangelist  who  showed  all  possible  pru- 
dence, yet  was  often  disturbed,  several  times  apprehended 
and  four  times  imprisoned.  He  discovered  great  firmness  of 
mind  and  an  unbroken  attachment  to  his  principles  in  per- 
secution, accumulated  evils  and  great  suffering.  Clark, 
speaking  of  him,  says,  "It  cannot  escape  the  reflection  of 
the  reader  that  Methodism  in  its  grand  principles  of  eco- 
nomy and  the  means  by  which  they  have  been  brought  into 
action,  had  its  specific  healthy,  though  slowly  vegitating 
seeds  in  the  original  members  of  the  Wesleyan  family." 

His  maternal  grandfather,  Samuel  Annesley,  nephew  of 
the  Early  of  Anglesey,  graduated  from  Oxford  and  received 
his  LL.  D.  degree  from  the  sanie  university  before  he  was 
twenty-eight.  He  was  lecturer  at  St.  Paul's  and  vicar  of  St. 
Giles,  Cripplegate,  the  largest  congregation  in  London,  but 
was  ejected  by  the  act  of  uniformity.  He  lived  in  great  se- 
renity of  mind,  "his  piety,  diligence  and  zeal  causing  him 
to  be  highly  respected  by  all  who  knew  him."  He  accorded 
to  others  the  freedom  of  thought  and  independence  of  ac- 
tion which  characterized  himself.  His  daughter,  Susanna, 
"while  under  the  parental  roof  and  before  she  was  thirteen 
years  of  age,  examined  the  who!e  controversy  between  the 
Established  Church  and  the  Dissenters,  the  issue  of  whic'i 
was,  she  renounced  her  religious  fellowship  with  the  latter 
and  adopted  the  creed  and  forms  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land." 

So  with  Samuel  Weslev,  whom  she  afterward  married. 
He  was  educated  and  designed  for  the  ministry,  among  tlrj 
Non-conformists.  Some  severe  invectives  being  writt°n 
against  the  Dissenters,  he  was  asked  to  answer  them.  This 
set  him  on  a  course  of  reading  through  which  he  thought  he 
saw  reasons  to  change  his  opinions.  Without  acquainting 
any  one  with  his  purpose  he  set  out  on  foot  for  Oxford,  en- 
tered Exeter  College  with  only  two  pounds  and  six  shillings 
in  his  possession  and  maintained  himself  until  he  took  his 
Bachelor  of  Arts  degree,  after  which  he  took  orders  in  the 
Church  of  England.  He  and  his  wife  Susanna  both  differed 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  107 

from  their  parents  in  the  choice  of  their  church,  but  like 
them  they  conquered  the  bias  of  their  education,  hospitably 
accepted  what  they  believed  to  be  truth,  and  loyally  adhered 
to  it  though  it  was  a  keen  sorrow  to  their  friends. 

"Among  all  the  generations  of  the  Wesleys,  as  far  back 
as  they  can  be  traced,  there  was  not  one  ignorant  or  illbe- 
haved  person  among  them.  They  were  either  divines,  with 
university  training,  or  gentlemen  of  liberal  culture."  Force- 
ful and  conscientious  they  strenuously  sought  and  main- 
tained the  truth  as  they  understood  it,  even  though  it  ex- 
posed them  to  the  severest  hardships  and  persecutions.  If 
there  is  anything  in  heredity,  how  could  John  Wesley  have 
been  otherwise  than  hospitable  to  truth? 

The  liome  life  of  Wesley's  childhood  was  exceptionally 
adapted  to  secure  the  same  characteristic  so  far  as  it  could 
be  produced  or  communicated  by  environment.  The  theory 
that  children  usually  inherit  their  physical  qualities  from 
their  father  and  their  moral  qualities  from  their  mother  is 
being  supplanted  by  the  theory  that  imitation  is  the  chief 
characteristic  of  childhood  and  through  imitation  they  re- 
produce the  moral  qualities  of  those  whom  they  most  ad- 
mire. Be  this  as  it  may,  no  greater  blessing  is  given  to  hu- 
manity than  mothers.  When  Napoleon  in  the  latter  years 
of  his  eventful  life,  when  he  had  leisure  to  meditate  upon 
the  philosophy  of  the  French  civilization,  was  asked,  "What 
is  the  great  need  of  France?"  replied  promptly  and  with 
great  emphasis,  "Mother."  President  Diaz  said  when 
talking  with  me  of  his  efforts  for  the  education  of  the  young 
women  of  Mexico,  "I  believe  in  preparing  well-educated 
mothers  for  my  people,  I  am  doing  them  a  greater  service 
than  giving  them  trained  soldiers."  Every  child,  no  matter 
what  else  it  has,  is  poor  indeed  and  to  be  pitied  if  invalidism, 
domestic  care,  bread-winning,  society,  incompetence  or  in- 
difference, robs  it  of  its  mother.  A  wise  mother 
is  a  sure  prophesy  of  efficient  and  honorable  pos- 
terity. 

John  Wesley  had  an  extraordinary  mother,  well  educated, 
with  great  sanity  of  judgment  and  practical  piety.  Her  dis- 
criminative love  required  from  her  children  reverence,  the 
student  attitude,  truthfulness,  the  essential  of  strength,  and 
thoroughness  in  every  thing  they  undertook.  Devotion  and 
method  secured  order  and  leisure.  "The  Epworth  Rectory 
presents  a  picture  of  a  domestic  church,  a  family  school  ind 
a  genuine  old  English  household,"  where  the  mother  was 
priestess,  teacher,  example  and  inspiration.  She  gave  her 


108  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

son  this  rule,  which  deserves  perpetual  and  universal  re- 
membrance: "Whatever  weakens  your  reason,  impairs  the 
tenderness  of  your  conscience,  obscures  your  sense  of  good, 
or  takes  off  the  relish  of  spiritual  things,  in  short  whatever 
increases  the  strength  and  authority  of  your  body  over  your 
mind,  that  thing  is  sin  to  you,  however  innocent  it  may  be  in 
itself." 

Eleven  of  Susanna  Wesley's  nineteen  children  grew  to  ma- 
turity. Some  of  them  were  remarkable  for  beauty,  others 
for  wit  and  intelligence  and  all  for  scholarship,  but  each 
had  a  marked  personality  and  all  became  active  Christians. 
The  foundations  and  trend  towards  holiness  and  scholar- 
ship, or  the  reverse,  are  usually  fixed  early  in  life,  most  fre- 
quently before  or  during  adolescence. 

John  Wesley,  placed  by  the  providence  of  God  in  line  with 
such  ancestors  and  in  the  environment  of  that  consecrated 
home,  developed  the  trend  towards  hospitality  and  loyalty  to 
truth  essential  to  his  subsequent  career.  With  occasional 
exceptions  when  a  child  at  the  Charter-house  School,  he 
never  dulled  his  perceptions  nor  deadened  his  appreciation 
of  truth  by  discounting  his  convictions  or  knowingly  advo- 
cating error.  He  writes  while  at  Oxford,  "It  has  been  my 
first  care  for  many  years  to  see  that  my  cause  was  good  and 
never  either  in  jest  or  earnest  to  defend  the  wrong  side  of 
a  question."  He  quadrated  his  life  with  his  conscience  and 
advocated  his  beliefs. 

III.  How  was  he  to  secure  the  third  essential,  thorough 
and  comprehensive  scholarship?  That  requires  time,  leisure 
and  many  accessories.  It  is  never  delivered  on  a  rush  order. 
It  cannot  be  acquired  at  home  or  in  isolation.  It  demands 
energy  and  is  expensive.  He  was  the  son  of  a  rector  in  a 
poor  and  remote  parish,  a  member  of  a  large  family,  where 
money  was  the  thing  of  which  they  had  the  least.  How 
could  it  become  possible  for  him  to  command  a  score  of  years 
for  study  with  capable  teachers,  kindred  spirits,  libraries 
and  other  necessary  appliances?  The  providence  of  God 
makes  possible  everything  necessarv  to  those  who  are  "call- 
ed according  to  His  purpose."  "No  good  thing  will  He 
with-hold  from  them  that  walk  uprightly."  John  Wesley 
was  not.  responsible  for  his  ancestors,  nor  for  the  environ- 
ment into  which  he  was  born.  They  were  furnished  him  of 
God,  so  also  God  provided  the  possibilities  for  education 
on  the  one  invariable  condition  of  cooperation. 
Alfred  the  Great  whose  highest  glory  is  that  he  did  so 
much  for  the  moral  and  intellectual  improvement  of  his  peo- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  109 

pie,  founded  the  ''Oxford  Schools"  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
ninth  century.  In  1427  Lincoln  College  was  founded  by 
Richard  Fleming,  whose  zeal  in  opposing  Wyclif  was  re- 
warded by  the  Pope  with  the  Arch-bishopric  of  York.  Cardi- 
nal Wolsey,  the  brilliant,  meteoric,  capable  but  unscruplous 
prelate  and  aspirant  for  the  papacy,  did  his  most  beneficient 
service  for  England  in  founding  Christ  Church  College  in 
1525.  These  latter  wrought  better  than  they  intended,  for 
they  prepared  the  seed-plot  of  the  most  constructive  Protes- 
tantism. Others  broadened  and  strengthened  their  begin- 
nings and  multiplied  influences  and  opportunities  for  educa- 
tion. When  Wesley  needed  them  they  had  been  in  process  of 
preparation  for  centuries. 

The  Duke  of  Buckingham,  Lord  Chamberlain  to  King 
James  I,  arranged  for  Wesley's  admission,  as  "gown  boy" 
or  free  scholar,  to  the  Charter-house  School  in  1714,  at 
the  age  of  ten  and  a  half  years,  just  one  hundred  years 
after  it  was  founded  by  the  munificence  of  Thomas  Sutton. 
By  his  energetic  character,  his  unconquerable  patience,  his 
assiduity  and  his  progress  in  learning,  John  acquired  a  high 
position  and  in  1720  was  elected  to  a  scholarship  in  Christ 
Church  College,  Oxford.  As  Charter-House  scholar  he  had 
forty  pounds  per  annum  until  he  took  his  Bachelor  of  Arts 
degree  in  1725,  just  two  hundred  years  after  Christ  Church 
College  was  founded. 

In  March,  1726,  he  was  elected  Fellow  in  Lincoln  Col- 
lege. November  of  the  same  year,  though  he  had  not  yet 
taken  his  Master's  degree,  he  was  elected  Greek  lecturer  and 
moderator  of  the  classes.  He  took  his  M.  A.  Degree  in 
1727,  just  three  hundred  years  after  Lincoln  College  was 
founded.  For  nine  years,  till  he  sailed  for  Georgia,  he  had 
the  rare  benefits  of  Lincoln  College.  God  had  made  it  the 
duty  of  others,  long  since  dead,  to  found,  develop  and  en- 
dow these  facilities  for  education.  The  excellence  of  Wes- 
ley's own  work  made  them  successively  available  to  him  for 
twenty-one  years.  Have  you  ever  thought  what  an  irrepar- 
able loss  the  world  would  have  suffered  if  the  money  neces- 
sary for  those  endowments  had  been  withheld? 

The  three  essentials  were  largely  realized  and  were  being 
strengthened  along  converging  lines,  but  Wesley  had  not  yet 
received  his  commission.  In  every  normal  evolution  or  de- 
velopment some  suggestion  or  hint  of  the  subsequent  condi- 
tion may  be  seen  in  previous  ones.  His  objective  was  fore- 
shadowed during  his  university  life  where  he  was  the  recog- 
nized leader  among  his  friends  of  the  Holy  Club,  in  their 


110  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

practical  benevolence,  systematic  study  of  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment, and  earnest  seeking  after  holiness,  though  they  did 
not  know  its  character,  its  manifestations,  the  secrets  of  its 
attainment,  or  its  power. 

Wesley's  intentions  were  sincere  and  pure  beyond  ques- 
tion, but  his  ideals  of  holiness  were  confused,  misty  and  er- 
roneous. He  needed  the  knowledge  of  the  ideal  and  the  per- 
sonal experience  of  its  unfolded  beauty.  These  had  not 
come  to  him  as  yet  for  he  was  not  ready  to  receive  them. 
Quite  the  reverse.  Apparently  he  had  been  developing  in 
the  opposite  direction.  He  was  a  rigid  churchman,  and  "ad- 
mired the  mystic  writers."  He  was  a  legalist  and  desired 
to  become  a  recluse.  God  is  never  in  a  hurry,  but  will  per- 
fect His  work  in  His  own  good  way. 

The  providence  of  God  had  provided  for  Wesley  his  an- 
cestors, his  inheritance,  his  childhood  environment  and  his 
subsequent  opportunities.  By  the  free  exercise  of  his  will 
Wesley  supplied  appreciation,  responsiveness  and  persistence. 
Thus  he  had  become  a  superior  classical  scholar,  a  thought- 
ful and  polished  writer,  a  skilful  logician,  hospitable  and 
loyal  to  truth,  disciplined  to  endurance,  unshrinking  from 
responsibility  and  devoted  to  ministries  for  his  fellows.  God 
had  been  developing  in  him  the  material  out  of  which  leaders 
are  made  and  continued  to  guide  him  by  his  counsel  to  the 
qualification  for  his  commission.  Wesley  only  need  to  fol- 
low on  and  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine.  "The  important 
question  is  not  how  late  or  how  early  we  come  to  life's  du- 
ties, but  how  well  prepared." 

Wesley  was  cautious  in  reaching  conclusions.  Because 
they  were  accepted  only  upon  the  approval  of  his  judgment, 
he  held  tenaciously  to  them,  until  they  were  proven  false. 
He' could  not  abandon  the  theory  of  righteousness  by  which 
he  was  living,  and  for  which  he  had  suffered,  until  the  inade- 
quacy of  his  theory  was  demonstrated  and  he  had  realized 
the  expulsive  power  of  a  fuller  revelation. 

His  trip  to  America  furnished  both  of  these.  Like  the 
forty  days  our  Lord  spent  in  the  wilderness  and  like  Paul's 
three  years  in  Arabia,  the  twenty-seven  months  and  eigh- 
teen days  Wesley  was  absent  from  England  were  an  im- 
portant part  of  his  preparation.  He  says,  "On  shipboard  I 
was  again  active  in  outward  works  when  it  pleased  God  of 
His  free  mercy  to  give  to  me  twenty-six  of  the  Moravian  bre- 
thren for  companions,  who  endeavored  to  show  me  a  more 
excellent  way."  After  they  had  been  at  sea  several  days 
they  encountered  a  severe  storm.  The  perfect  trust  and 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  Ill 

great  peace  of  the  Moravians — men,  women  and  children, — 
profoundly  impressed  him,  contrasted  with  his  own  exper- 
ience and  set  him  to  close  self-examination.  He  wrote,  "I 
went  to  America  to  convert  the  Indians,  but,  oh !  who  shall 
convert  me?  Who,  what  is  he  that  will  deliver  me  from 
this  evil  heart  of  unbelief  ?  I  have  a  fair  summer  religion ; 
I  can  talk  well,  nay,  I  believe  myself  while  no  danger  is 
near ;  but  let  death  look  me  in  the  face  and  my  spirit  is 
troubled,  nor  can  I  say  to  die  is  gain." 

It  is  not  necessary  to'  assume  that  God  especially  created 
that  storm  for  just  that  purpose.  A  providence  general  in 
character  becomes  special  in  application.  It  was  an  easy 
matter  for  the  all-wise  God  to  influence  Wesley  to  take  pas- 
sage on  a  ship  where  he  would  have  those  fellow  passengers 
and  when  they  would  run  into  a  great  storm.  A  storm  like 
other  things  may  have  natural  causation,  but  supernatural 
results.  The  thunder  bolt  which  fell  at  Luther's  feet  when 
he  was  returning  from  Mansfield  to  Erfurth  brought  him  to 
his  knees  and  he  rose  with  a  hunger  for  holiness,  superior  to 
his  thirst  for  knowledge.  As  the  servant  of  Abraham  testi- 
fied when  seeking  a  wife  for  Isaac,  "Being  in  the  way  the 
Lord  led  me,"  so  with  Wesley,  and  so  with  every  loyal  ser- 
vant of  God,  he  guides  them  by  His  counsel. 

Wesley's  experience  here  in  Savannah,  as  Chaplain  to 
General  Oglethorpe's  colony,  both  in  relation  to  the  colo- 
nists and  to  the  Indians  was  disappointing  to  him  and  to  his 
friends,  but  demonstrated  the  impracticability  of  the  theory 
which  he  was  trying  to  embody  and  promulgate.  Defeated? 
No.  But  "Let  hitherto,"  because  he  was  trying  to  develop 
and  apply  a  false  theory  of  holiness,  he  was  as  Paul  had  been 
in  his  premature  planning  to  go  to  Rome.  Prevention,  as 
well  as  accomplishment,  is  included  in  God's  counsel. 

This  Georgia  episode  was  a  bitter  one  but  vitally  related 
to  Wesley's  preparation.  He  writes,  "These  two  years  hum- 
bled me  and  proved  what  was  in  my  heart.  This  then  have 
I  learned  in  the  ends  of  the  earth,  that  I  am  fallen  short  of 
the  glory  of  God,  that  my  whole  heart  is  altogether  corrupt 
and  abominable  and  consequently  my  whole  life,  that  my  own 
works,  my  own  sufferings,  mv  own  righteousness  are  so  far 
from  reconciling  me  to  an  offended  God,  so  far  from  making 
an  atonement  for  the  least  of  these  sins  which  are  more  in 
number  than  the  hairs  of  my  head,  that  the  most  specious  of 
them  need  an  atonement  themselves,  or  they  cannot  abide 
his  righteous  judgment.  I  have  no  hope  but  that  of  being 


112  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

justified  fully  through  the  redemption  which  is  in 
Jesus." 

Holiness  through  faith  in  Christ,  revealing  itself  in  sus- 
tained peace  and  good  works,  as  manifested  in  stressful  cir- 
cumstances in  the  experience  of  humble  men,  women  and 
children,  had  a  persuasiveness  and  authority  with  his  hospi- 
table mind  far  exceeding  the  theories  and  voluminous  writ- 
ings of  ecclesiastics.  He  had  been  arrested  by  the  unans- 
werable demonstration  of  personal  experience,  though  as 
yet  he  did  not  possess  it.  Having  accepted  the  demonstra- 
tion of  the  inadequacy  of  his  theories  and  realized  the  ex- 
pulsive power  of  a  fuller  revelation,  Wesley  returned  to 
England. 

After  his  return  he  worshipped  with  the  Moravians, 
studied  their  teachings  and  conversed  with  their  leaders.  In 
that  memorable  argument  with  Peter  Bohler,  whom  Wesley 
says  "God  prepared  for  me  as  soon  as  I  came  to  London," 
Wesley  became  thoroughly  convinced  by  proofs  drawn  whol- 
ly from  the  scriptures  and  experience  that  dominion  over  sin 
and  constant  peace  from  a  sense  of  forgiveness  are  insepara- 
ble from  true  faith  in  Christ.  From  that  time  he  sought 
earnestly  the  experience  of  holiness  and  the  witness  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

May  24th,  1738,  he  writes,  "In  the  evening  I  went  very 
unwillingly  to  a  Society  in  Aldergate  St.,  where  one  was 
reading  Luther's  preface  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 
About  a  quarter  before  nine,  while  he  was  describing  the 
change  which  God  works  in  the  heart  through  faith  in  Christ, 
I  felt  my  heart  strangely  warmed.  I  felt  I  did  trust  in 
Christ,  Christ  alone  for  salvation;  and  an  assurance  was 
given  me  that  He  had  taken  away  my  sins,  even  mine,  and 
saved  me  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death."  The  unanswerable 
demonstration  of  personal  experience  was  given  to  him  in 
his  own  soul. 

The  second  stage  in  his  qualification  was  realized  and 
with  it  came  his  commission.  God  never  regenerates  a  soul 
without  commissioning  it.  His  commission  was  not  to  re- 
vive the  ecclesiastical  questions  over  which  Churchmen  and 
Puritans  had  fought  and  exhausted  each  other,' nor  even  to 
appeal  to  the  Reformation  with  its  incomplete  correction 
of  papacy,  but  it  was  to  recall  the  masses  to  their  Bibles 
which  say  so  little  about  these  questions  but  which  dechre 
that  "the  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink  but  right- 
eousness, peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  While  he  ac- 
knowledged the  importance  of  sound  doctrine,  nevertheless 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  113 

his  teachings  thereafter  dwelt  mostly  on  the  theology  which 
relates  to  the  spiritual  life, — faith,  justification,  sanctifica- 
tion  and  the  witness  of  the  Spirit. 

Wesley  justified  his  commission.  Green  says,  "He  pos- 
sessed an  indefatigable  industry,  a  cool  judgment,  a  com- 
mand over  others,  the  faculty  of  organization."  Macaulay 
says,  "Wesley's  genius  for  government  was  not  inferior  to 
Richelieu's,"  Matthew  Arnold  says,  "He  had  genius  for 
Godliness." 

He  had  received  a  personal  experience  of  purity  and  of 
assurance  through  faith  in  Christ,  the  two  characteristics  of 
scriptural  holiness  which  he  was  commissioned  to  spread 
throughout  the  land.  But  how  could  scriptural  holiness  be 
spread?  There  is  nothing  more  beautiful  nor  more  exact 
than  the  divine  adjustment  of  means  to  ends.  The  method 
for  spreading  it  was  as  much  a  providential  development  as 
the  preparation  of  the  agent. 

The  doctrine  was  at  once  confronted  with  preoccupation, 
prejudice,  intrenched  hatred  and  bitter  antagonism  on  every 
hand.  The  people  would  not  go  to  the  churches,  which  had 
come  to  be  almost  no  factor  at  all  in  influencing  the  thought 
of  the  masses.  If  the  people  were  to  be  reached  by  the  mes- 
sage it  must  be  taken  to  them,  but  it  was  a  violation  of  all 
ecclesiastical  proprieties  for  a  clergyman  to  preach  outside 
of  a  consecrated  place  or  separated  from  ecclesiastical  ac- 
cessories. Wesley  had  no  desire  to  do  otherwise,  but  so 
searching,  so  radical,  and  so  exacting  of  personal  righteous- 
ness through  faith,  was  the  preaching  of  scriptural  holiness 
that  it  was  exceptional  for  any  of  the  Established  Churches 
to  be  opened  for  a  second  sermon.  Its  heralds  were  literal- 
ly thrust  out  of  the  churches  if  they  would  raise  up  a  holy 
people. 

The  crowds  demanded  the  message  and  responded  to  it 
wherever  preached.  From  his  father's  tomb-stone,  on  com- 
mons, in  fields,  anywhere  as  occasion  offered,  he  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  led,  reluctantly  at  first,  to  proclaim  the  message 
by  what  were  considered  irregular  methods,  but  it  proved  to 
be  with  the  power  and  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  unto  sal- 
vation. The  experience  was  its  own  demonstration.  Wit- 
nessing to  it  was  the  burden  of  its  proclamation.  It  was  a 
heralding.  Those  who  had  the  experience  were  constrained 
to  expound  it.  The  increasing  demand  of  the  people  and 
the  small  number  of  preachers  compelled  them  to  move  from 
place  to  place  and  so  developed  the  itineracy,  and  the  agency 
of  local  preachers.  Converted  clergymen  and  local  or  as- 


114  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

sistant  but  unordained  preachers  were  soon  traveling  well 
planned  circuits,  covering  vast  areas,  systematically  and 
effectively. 

As  one  and  another  came  to  the  experience  of  the  new 
life,  conditions  for  growth  were  as  earnestly  demanded  as 
the  proclamation  of  the  message.  They  sought  instruction 
as  did  others  who  desired  the  experience.  They  needed 
counsel  and  opportunities  for  conference.  Their  numbers 
increased  steadily  and  in  every  direction  till  it  was  neces- 
sary to  divide  them  into  small  companies  under  the  direc- 
tion of  chosen  leaders.  So  without  premeditating  it,  de- 
veloped the  system  of  class-leaders  or  lay-pastors. 

Want  of  time  prevents  us  pursuing  this  development  fur- 
ther. The  message  of  Methodism,  scriptural  holiness,  is 
divine.  The  manner  of  stating  it  and  the  methods  of  pro- 
mulgating it  are  human  and  adjustable  to  the  ever  varying 
conditions  of  humanity.  The  guidance  of  Jehovah's 
counsel  has  been,  is  and  always  must  be  the  secret  of  its 
success. 

Two  hundred  years  have  passed  since  Wesley  was  born. 
He  had  divine  guiding,  preparation  and  commission.  He 
served  his  day  and  generation  and  is  crowned.  "His  tra- 
ducers  have  passed  away  and  are  almost  forgotten,  but 
Wesley  lives.  Philosophers,  statesmen  and  historians  honor 
his  name.  His  tablet  is  among  the  men  of  might  in  West- 
minster Abbey  and  his  spiritual  children  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  rise  up  to  call  him  blessed."  (Simpson.)  Even  his 
persecutors  are  clamorous  in  their  contention  that  he  is  and 
nlways  has  been  their  special  Saint  and  patron. 

God  guided  him  by  His  counsel  till  his  earthly  mission 
was  accomplished  and  afterward  received  him  into  that  glory 
which  merges  in  the  effulgence  of  Him  whose  right  it  is  to 
reign  for  ever  and  for  ever. 


Hon.  J.  C.  C.  Black. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTEXARY.  117 


WESLEY  OUTSIDE  OP  METHODISM. 


The  subject  of  the  address  in  the  afternoon  was  "Wesley 
Outside  of  Methodism,"  and  the  speaker,  Hon.  J.  C.  C.  Black, 
was  heard  with  the  fullest  attention  and  interest  by  an  im- 
mense assemblage. 

The  afternoon  service  began  promptly  at  5  o'clock, 
Bishop  Candler  presiding.  Rev.  Bascom  Anthony  led  in 
prayer  and  was  followed  by  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Pierce  of  Au- 
gusta, who  read  the  lesson,  the  Psalm  beginning:  "It  is  a 
good  thing  for  brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity."  In  in- 
troducing Mr.  Pierce,  Bishop  Candler  took  occasion  to  say 
that  Bishop  Asbury,  sent  out  by  Wesley,  had  ordained  Lo- 
vick  Pierce,  and  that  this  was  his  son. 

As  has  been  done  at  each  of  the  services,  Charles  Wes- 
ley's hymns  were  sung. 

Bishop  Candler  then  introduced  Hon.  J.  C.  C.  Black, 
pointing  with  pleasure  to  the  names  of  distinguished  laymen 
in  Georgia  who  had  for  years  worked  side  by  side  with  the 
clergy  for  the  advancement  of  Christianity;  he  mentioned 
the  family  names  of  Jackson,  Lawton,  Black,  Lumpkin,  La- 
mar,  Gordon  and  others.  Quoting  from  Mr.  Wesley  he  said : 

"I  desire  to  have  a  league  offensive  and  defensive  with  ^ 
every  soldier  of  Christ.  *  *  *  I  beseech  you,  brethren, 
by  the  mercies  of  God,  that  we  be  in  no  wise  divided  among 
ourselves.  Is  thy  heart  right  as  my  heart  is  with  thine ;  I 
ask  no  further  question.  If  it  be,  give  me  thy  hand ;  for  opin- 
ions or  terms  let  us  not  destroy  the  work  of  God.  It  is 
enough ;  I  give  thee  the  right  hand  of  fellowship." 

ADDRESS  BY  HON.  J.  C.  C.  BLACK, 
OF  AUGUSTA.  GA. 

I  hold  no  commission  from  the  great  denomination  to 
which  I  belong,  but  I  am  sure  I  express  the  common  feel- 
ing and  sentiment  of  our  Baptist  Brotherhood,  when  I  sa- 
lute you  with  fraternal  greeting  and  join  you  in  thanksgiv- 
ing for  the  life  and  labors  of  the  illustrious  man  whose  Bi- 
centenary you  this  day  celebrate. 

No  word  of  mine  could  add  to  the  renown  that  gathers 
'around  his  name  and  works,  that  is  alike  beyond  the  power 


118  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

of  detraction  to  diminish  or  panegyric  to  augment.  It  is  like 
the  sun  in  full-orbed  glory  covering  the  earth  with  light  and 
splendor.  It  is  imperishable,  for  it  rests  on  character,  the  im- 
press of  which  the  tides  of  time  cannot  efface  and  deeds  which 
have  enriched  not  only  his  own  country,  and  church,  but  all 
countries  and  the  cause  of  Christianity  at  large. 

Buckle  called  him  "the  first  of  theological  statesmen;" 
Macauley  said  "he  had  a  genius  for  government,  not  inferior 
to  that  of  Richelieu ;"  Mr.  Gladstone  said  "he  gave  the 
main  impulse  out  of  which  sprang  the  evangelical  move- 
ment ;"  Dean  Stanley  said,  "he  was  the  chief  revivor  of  re- 
ligious fervor  in  the  Protestant  churches,  both  in  the  old  and 
new  world ;"  Charles  Hadden  Spurgeon,  the  greatest 
preacher  of  our  times,  and  who  it  is  of  interest  to  note, 
was  converted  under  the  preaching  of  a  poor  Methodist  in 
a  country  chapel,  has  left  on  record  his  great  veneration 
for  him. 

Historians,  poets,  authors,  philosophers,  statesmen, 
preachers,  priests,  deans  and  bishops  have  acknowledged  the 
worth  and  eminence  of  his  character,  the  extent  and  value 
of  his  labors  to  mankind,  and  paid  tribute  to  him. 

Some  one  has  called  the  spirit  of  Wesley's  movement,  "the 
Enthusiasm  of  Humanity."  Chalmers  has  called  it  "Chris- 
tianity in  earnest."  I  would  rather  call  it  "Christianity  at 
Work." 

There  were  other  great  and  good  men  in  church  and 
State  in  the  day  in  which  he  lived,  but  in  the  extent,  variety 
and  permanence  of  his  labors,  and  the  far  reaching  results 
which  followed  them,  he  excelled  them  all.  , 

While  the  period  of  his  life  has  furnished  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  named  in  English  history,  it  was  the  day  of 
moral  and  spiritual  degeneracy.  Montesquie  said :  "If  one 
speaks  of  religion  in  England,  everybody  laughs."  Every 
form  of  vice  was  prevalent.  Political  corruption  sat  in  high 
places  in  the  State ;  the  blight  of  ignorance  and  social  de- 
gradation had  fallen  upon  thousands  and  thousands  of  the 
masses.  The  government  was  powerless ;  the  church  was 
indifferent,  if  not  callous.  Amidst  such  conditions  Wesley 
laid  his  hand  not  indirectly,  but  directly  and  potentially  on 
the  whole  framework  of  society,  and  lifted  it  up,  and  began  a 
religious  movement,  which  bless  God  has  not  yet  ceased  to 
bless  the  world. 

It  was  his  dominating  desire  that  men  should  be  redeemed 
from  sin,  and  inspired  with  higher  and  still  higher  spiritual 
life.  This  desire  burned  in  his  great  soul  with  a  flame  that 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  119 

neither  men  nor  devils  could  quench.  "Church  or  no 
church,"  he  wrote,  "we  must  attend  to  the  work  of  saving 
souls." 

When  convinced  of  error  he  was  ready  to  surrender  opin- 
ions in  which  he  had  been  firmly  established.  This  is  a 
mark  of  intellectual  and  moral  greatness.  He  was  liberal 
and  Catholic  in  his  sympathy.  He  loved  the  truth  in  sim- 
plicity. He  esteemed  a  Christian  more  than  a  nobleman. 
His  aim  was  deeper  than  the  mere  manners  of  his  age.  He 
sought  to  reach  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people.  He 
waged  a  vigorous  war  on  vice  and  corruption  and  sin. 
Wherever  found,  these  were  the  same  to  him  whether  clad 
in  the  garb  of  fashion,  or  the  rags  and  tatters  of  the  street, 
in  high  official  station  or  the  felon's  cell ;  revelling  in  wealth 
or  pining  in  want,  strutting  in  haughty  pride,  or  lost  to  all 
sense  of  self-respect,  wallowing  in  degradation,  wearing  the 
livery  of  heaven  in  pretended  meekness,  or  openly  and 
shamelessly  defying  God,  sitting  in  the  Bishop's  chair,  or  the 
lowest  place  in  the  church.  He  was  the  great  religious  tri- 
bune of  the  centuries.  His  labors  were  especially  directed 
to  improving  the  condition  of  the  common  people.  Some  of 
his  most  efficient  coadjutors  were  wisely  chosen  from  them ; 
John  Nelson,  a  stone  mason,  Thomas  Oliver,  a  shoemaker, 
Alexander  Mather,  a  baker,  Peter  Jaco,  a  Cornish  Fisher- 
man and  Thomas  Hanby,  a  weaver. 

He  was  patient  under  trials  the  most  severe,  tireless  in 
labors  the  most  arduous,  courageous  in  the  face  of  perils  the 
most  appalling.  He  withstood  the  contempt  of  the  aristo- 
cracy, the  jeers  of  the  rabble,  the  turbulence  of  the  mob,  the 
ridicule  of  the  satirist,  and  the  opposition  of  the  church.  The 
low  might  hoot  at  him,  the  mob  might  assault  him,  society 
might  ostracize  him,  the  church  might  shut  its  doors  against 
him,  ignorance,  prejudice,  jealousy,  envy,  malice  and  slander 
might  do  their  worst,  but  none  of  these  things  moved  him. 
Brave  as  Elijah  before  Ahab,  as  John  the  Baptist  before 
Herod,  as  Paul  before  the  Sanhedrim,  as  Luther  who  would 
go  to  Worms  though  every  tije  on  the  housetops  was  a  devil, 
he  pursued  his  mission.  He  answered  the  fierceness  of  the 
mob  with  the  story  of  God's  redeeming  love ;  he  denounced 
the  sins  and  crimes  of  society ;  he  rebuked  the  inactivity  and 
indifference  of  the  church  which  had  bound  itself  so  tight- 
ly in  formalism,  that  the  life  had  been  pressed  out  of  it,  and 
it  lay  prostrate,  shorn  of  its  glory,  stripped  of  its  strength, 
a  by-word  among  its  enemies,  a  shame  among  its  friends, 
and  an  offence  to  God.  Any  man  bent  on  such  a  mission 


120  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

and  animated  by  such  a  spirit,  sooner  or  later  will  be  heard. 
And  he  was  heard. 

The  vicious  who  at  one  time  would  have  killed  him,  glad- 
ly received  the  message  he  proclaimed ;  the  home?  of  the 
lowly  who  once  debarred  his  presence,  welcomed  his  com- 
ing, and  the  contempt  of  the  proud  was  changed  into  re- 
spect, if  not  veneration. 

His  style  was  simple  and  direct.  He  never  preached  over 
the  heads  of  the  people  nor  under  their  feet.  He  preached 
directly  to  them,  their  hearts  and  consciences  and  with  a 
power  that  secured  entrance  to  the  truth  which  enlightened 
and  gave  life. 

At  Moorfields,  Kennington  Common,  Kingswood,  Bristol, 
New  Castle,  in  Cornwall,  Staffordshire  and  Yorkshire,  all 
over  the  kingdom  great  multitudes  listened  to  him  for  a 
series  of  years,  and  with  undiminished  interest.  Every 
agency  employed  by  the  church  to-day,  with  all  its  activi- 
ties, moved  by  the  mighty  impulses  of  the  times  in  which 
we  live,  Tract  societies,  bible  and  publication  societies,  Sun- 
day-schools, organizations  among  the  laity  find  inspiration 
in  his  life  and  labors. 

If  not  the  crowning  one,  one  and  not  the  smallest  of  the 
evidences  of  his  divinity,  furnished  by  Christ  himself  to  the 
doubting  John,  was  that  the  gospel  was  preached  to  the 
poor  In  this  respect  perhaps  his  life  was  without  a  parallel 
certainly  it  has  not  been  surpassed.  He  who  might  have 
stood  among  princes,  whose  learning  and  attainments  made 
him  fit  companion  for  the  scholars  of  his  day,  who  might 
have  acquired  riches,  spent  his  life  in  poverty  among  the 
poor  of  the  streets,  the  highways,  the  laborers  of  the  mines, 
ministering  to  the  sick,  comforting  the  distressed,  relieving 
the  suffering,  and  preaching  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  bless- 
ed God  to  all. 

He  was  as  great  a  philanthropist  as  John  Howard,  who 
acknowledged  he  had  been  an  inspiration  to  him,  but  he  was 
more  than  a  philanthropist,  he  was  as  great  a  lover  of  liberty 
as  Wilberforce,  to  whom  the  la§t  letter  he  ever  wrote  was  ad- 
dressed, but  he  was  more  than  this.  Without  sword  or  purse 
he  unfurled  a  banner  under  which  has  been  martialled  a 
greater  army  than  Napoleon  or  Caesar  ever  enlisted ;  or- 
ganized a  government  greater  than  which  never  sprang 
from  the  genius  of  statesmanship,  and  put  in  operation  moral 
and  religious  energies  that  have  gone  around  the  globe,  to 
bless  humanity  and  glorify  God. 


WESLEY  BF-CENTENARY.  121 

As  writer  and  author,  as  teacher  and  preacher  and  evan- 
gelist, as  organizer  and  worker  and  leader,  the  history  of 
the  church  does  not  furnish  his  equal.  He  touched  life  in 
every  sphere,  and  left  it  better.  Under  his  influence  cleanli- 
ness, sobriety,  respect  for  things  moral  and  religious  were 
promoted.  He  softened  the  severeties  of  a  -:ruel  and  bar- 
barous Penal  Code,  he  improved  the  material  conditions  of 
those  who  were  slaves  of  the  severest  labor,  he  purified  the 
homes  of  the  people,  inspiring  them  with  .a  desire  for  educa- 
tion and  religion.  He  quickened  and  vitalized  with  new  life 
and  power  the  moribund  church  of  his  day.  He  was  a  bene- 
factor of  every  race,  and  all  the  world  is  his  debtor.  Eng- 
land has  acknowledged  her  debt,  by  admitting  a  tablet  to 
his  memory  in  Westminster  Abbey,  where  are  gathered  me- 
morials of  those  who  for  centuries  have  made  her  poetry, 
her  literature,  her  science,  her  statesmanship,  her  oratory, 
her  military  and  naval  glory,  her  civilization.  Better  than 
this,  all  over  the  world  schools  and  asylums  and  hospitals 
and  churches,  stand  as  his  memorials. 

He  taught  the  necessity  of  a  personal  religious  expe- 
rience, that  takes  hold  of  the  heart  and  controls  the  life,  its 
desires,  its  plans,  and  purposes,  its  aspirations,  its  outward 
conduct  and  inward  character,  always  and  everywhere  seek- 
ing to  bring  itself  into  perfect  conformity  to  the  will  of  God. 
Its  insistence  on  this  essential  doctrine  has  been  the  glory 
of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  has  contributed  very  much, 
if  not  more  than  anything  else,  to  the  power  it  to-day  wields 
in  the  world.  May  that  glory  never  be  dimmed,  nor  that 
power  lessened  by  its  abandonment ! 

He  believed  in  the  necessitv  for,  and  the  all  sufficiency  of 
the  grace  of  God ;  that  John  Wesley  sometime  fellow  of  Ox- 
ford College  was  lost  without  it,  and  John  Smith  sometime 
fellow  of  Newgate  prison  might  be  saved  by  it. 

His  missionary  spirit  burned  with  a  flame  not  kindled  on 
earth.  It  was  akin  to  the  spirit  of  the  angel  of  the  Apo- 
calypse, whom  John  saw  flying  in  the  midst  of  heaven,  hav- 
ing the  everlasting  gospel  to  preach  upto  them,  that  dwell 
on  the  earth,  and  to  everv  nation  and  kindred  and  tongue 
and  people  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  "Fear  God  and  give 
glory  to  Him !"  It  was,  adopting  the  terms  we  commonly 
employ,  and  the  employment  of  which  has  brought  confus- 
ion and  hurt  to  this  great  work  of  the  church,  both  home 
and  foreign.  In  reality  it  is  one  spirit,  the  spirit  that  impels 
and  comoels  the  carrying  of  the  gospel  to  those  who  have 
it  not,  whether  geographically  near  or  remote.  This  spirit 


122  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

brought  him  to  these  shores,  to  the  very  place  where  we  thi? 
day  honor  his  memory. 

After  his  return  to  England,  it  carried  him  to  the  ne- 
glected, the  poor,  the  ignorant,  the  despised  and  the  crimi- 
nal. I  think  his  theology  may  be  summed  up  in  the  doc- 
trines of  repentance,  faith  and  holy  living.  The  repentance 
which  is  far  more  than  mere  reformation  or  change  of  habit, 
but  deep  godly  sorrow  that  sees  sin  as  God  sees  it,  in  its 
heinuousness,  its  abomination ;  that  sees  in  it  an  offence  to 
his  holiness,  the  basest  ingratitutde  toward  his  love  and  mer- 
cy, rebellion  against  his  authority  and  treason  against  his 
government.  The  repentance  that  thus  seeing  sin  abhors 
and  abandons  it,  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  his  di- 
vinity. 

The  faith  that  sees  in  him  the  son,  all  the  fullness  of  the 
father,  the  divine  Logos  who  in  the  beginning  was  with  God, 
who  was  God ;  the  faith  that  sees  in  him  humanity  as  he  grew 
in  wisdom  and  stature,  as  he  was  weary  on  the  highway,  as 
he  rested  by  the  well  and  retired  apart  to  the  mountain  side ; 
as  he  was  thirsty  and  hungry,  as  he  felt  the  need  of  prayer  as 
he  wept  over  the  doomed  city  he  would  have  saved  and  the 
grave  of  his  dead  friend  at  Bethany,  as  he  mingled  with  men 
and  women  at  the  marriage  in  Cana  in  Gallilee,  as  he  with- 
stood the  tempter  in  the  wilderness.  The  repentance 
and  faith  that  find  their  expression  in  holy  living. 

The  fires  he  kindled  in  England  could  not  be  confined. 
They  were  soon  lit  on  this  side  of  the  Ocean,  where  they  burn 
to-day  with  steady  and  beneficent  glow  in  the  hearts  and 
lives  of  millions.  The  work  he  inaugurated  has  been  carried 
on  in  our  own  country  by  the  wisdom  and  consecrated  ef- 
forts of  men  and  women,  inspired  by  his  example,  and  keep- 
ing pace  with  our  national  growth,  in  city  and  town,  and 
village  and  rural  districts,  in  the  mountains,  on  the  prairies, 
on  our  frontiers  and  everywhere  it  has  been  a  blessing  to 
society,  to  the  state,  to  the  church  and  the  world. 

It  may  be  well  to  ask  how  Wesley  accomplished  so  much. 
He  saw  and  was  profoundly  impressed  by  the  social  and  re- 
ligious conditions  that  surrounded  him.  His  heart  was  filled 
with  love  for  humanity.  He  realized  that  the  only  remedy 
for  these  conditions  was  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed 
God.  This  he  determined  to  carry  to  the  people,  and  in  the 
home,  the  highwav,  the  field,  the  street,  he  went  with  its 
blessed  evangel.  This  erospel  he  would  preach.  If  the  doors 
"of  the  church  at  Epworth  were  closed  against  him,  he 
would  rehallow  the  ground  where  the  dust  of  his  father  re- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  123 

posed,  by  making  a  pulpit  of  his  tomb.  When  he  did  not 
have  a  great  congregation  he  would  preach  to  a  single  in- 
dividual, as  Christ  did  to  Nicodemus  who  came  by  night,  or 
the  woman  at  Jacob's  well.  He  preached  the  same  gospel 
in  the  street  and  in  the  pulpit  of  the  University  of  Oxford. 
It  was  the  same  gospel  preached  by  the  great  apostle  at 
Damascus,  at  Antioch,  to  Jews  and  Gentiles,  before  Felix 
and  Festus  and  Agrippa,  on  the  stair-way  that  led  to  the  fort- 
ress of  Antonia,  or  at  Mars  Hill,  before  a  rough  Roman 
soldiery  or  a  cultured  Athenian  audience.  Mr.  Glad- 
stone said :  "The  aim  of  Wesley  was  to  bring  back  the 
cross,  and  all  that  the  cross  essentially  implies."  By  this 
sign  the  church  has  achieved  its  conquests  in  the  past,  and 
must  in  the  future.  As  long  as  the  church  lifts  this 
up,  it  shall  be  invincible,  when  this  is  lowered  its  banner 
will  go  down  in  inglorious  defeat. 

There  is  among  us  to-day  a  feeling  that  our  preaching 
and  worship  must  attract  the  curious,  and  catch  the  crowd. 
Not  all  we  have  from  the  pulpit  is  preaching  the  gospel,  and 
therefore  it  has  not  the  power  of  the  gospel  to  edify  the 
church  and  convict  the  world.  While  there  is  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  give  up  the  worship  of  God  in  song  by  the  people, 
to  mere  musical  performance  by  a  few,  and  they  hired  for 
the  purpose. 

He  was  a  deeply  earnest  man.  Therefore  the  power  of 
the  world  to  come  was  upon  him.  Much  of  our  effort  in  the 
work  of  the  church  of  to-day  is  half-hearted.  If  the  pulpit 
preached  and  the  pew  lived  as  if  the  things  which  are  un- 
seen and  eternal  were  verities  and  realities,  felt  and  known, 
the  church  would  enjoy  a  perpetual  revival. 

In  physical  power  he  was  marvelously  endowed.  It  is  es- 
timated that  in  the  fifty  years  of  his  itineracy,  he  preached 
more  than  40,000  times,  and  travelled  more  than  200,000 
miles. 

We  may  believe  that  the  hand  of  the  unseen  and  the 
eternal  was  in  the  rescue  from  the  burning  rectory  at  Ep- 
wqrth,  that  this  hand  shielded  him  in  perils  on  sea  and  land, 
and  sustained  him  with  needed  strength.  And  more  than  his 
physical  and  mental  endowments  for  the  great  work  of  his 
life,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was  noon  him,  anointing  him  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  sending  him  to  heal  the  broken 
hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recover- 
ing of  sight  to  the  blind,  and  to  set  at  liberty  they  that  were 
bruised. 


124  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

After  a  life  of  more  than  four  score  years  filled  with  the 
most  arduous  labor,  he  approached  his  end.  On  the  23rd  of 
February,  preceding  the  second  day  of  March,  when  he  died, 
in  the  house  of  a  friend  in  distress,  to  whom  he  had  gone 
to  minister,  he  preached  his  last  sermon  from  the  text  "Seek 
the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found."  When  time,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it,  had  told  him  Good  Bye,  sights  from  the  other 
world  greeted  his  vision.  His  last  hours  were  spent  in  pray- 
er and  praise  and  singing,  and  with  his  dying  lips  he  uttered 
the  words  which  are  inscribed  on  his  memorial  tablet  in  the 
Abbey,  "The  best  of  all,  God  is  with  us."  Thus  fell  this 
mighty  warrior  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness,  with 
his  armor  on,  thus  the  majestic  soul  of  this  great  and  good 
man,  redeemed  by  the  gospel  he  had  preached  to  thousands, 
passed  from  the  toils  and  sacrifices  of  earth,  where  his  last 
word  was  "Farewell,"  to  the  rest  and  rewards  of  heaven, 
where  he  was  greeted  by  angel  and  archangel,  and  the  whole 
Company  of  the  glorified  with  "Hail  and  Welcome." 

For  long  years,  as  we  count  time,  his  dust  has  moulded 
in  the  church  yard  at  the  City  Road  chapel,  but  his  life  and 
services  remain,  the  richest  legacy  ever  bequeathed  to  the 
church  of  which  he  was  the  founder,  and  a  blessing  not  only 
to  it,  but  to  the  Christian  world  at  large. 

We  constantly  hear  prophecies  of  a  day  near  by,  when  in- 
dustrial and  commercial  prosperity  shall  come  to  us  of  the 
South,  when  our  waste  places  shall  blossom  as  a  garden. 
The  devil  does  not  confine  himself  to  the  waste  places  of 
earth.  His  work  of  destruction  began  in  the  garden  planted 
by  the  Lord  himself.  What  will  this  incoming  tide  of  pros- 
perity bring  to  us?  Riches  are  dangerous — they  may 
drown  men  in  destruction  and  perdition,  they  may  beget 
self  indulgence  and  licentiousness,  corrupt  our  political  life, 
destroy  domestic  and  social  purity,  bring  desecration  of  the 
Sabbath  and  irreverence  toward  God,  make  the  church  proud 
and  godless.  Let  the  church  take  its  stand  immovably  by 
the  old  land  marks,  let  it  reassert  with  emphasis  the  authori- 
ty of  the  decalogue,  let  it  hold  fast  with  unwavering  grasp 
to  the  old  truths  of  the  old  gospel,  by  which  alone  it  shall 
triumph  and  the  world  be  redeemed. 

Evangelical  Christendon  owes  much  to  the  Methodist 
Church  of  the  past.  For  its  ministers  with  tongues  of  fire, 
for  the  simplicity  of  its  worship,  for  its  religion  in  the  home, 
for  its  missionary  spirit  and  enterprise,  for  its  defense  of  the 
truth  and  its  good  works,  for  the  fervor  of  its  prayers  and 
praises,  for  the  power  of  its  songs  that  have  uttered  every 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  125 

experience  of  the  human  heart,  the  cry  of  the  penitent  strick- 
en by  conviction  of  sin,  the  shout  of  the  redeemed  rejoicing 
in  the  forgiveness  of  sin.  Songs  that  have  brought  comfort 
to  the  sorrowing,  hope  to  the  disconsolate,  strength  to  the 
living,  triumph  to  the  dying.  Songs  that  have  been  the  bat- 
tle cry  of  the  church  in  ages  past,  and  will  inspire  it  with  the 
endurance  and  courage  that  shall  achieve  greater  victories 
in  the  ages  to  come.  , 

For  the  future,  God  grant  tongues  of  flame  as  on  Pente- 
cost, and  holy  consecration  to  its  ministers,  lives  of  right- 
eousness and  good  works  to  its  members,  that  its  worship 
may  never  be  corrupted  by  vain  display,  that  the  fires  on  its 
family  altars  may  never  go  out,  that  it  may  be  valiant  in  the 
defense  of  the  truth,  and  bold  and  aggressive  in  its  propaga- 
tion, that  pruie  may  never  silence  its  hallelujahs  and  amens, 
and  that  against  any  and  every  demand  its  songs  shall  be 
preserved  and  sung  by  all  the  people  in  the  true 
worship  of  God,  and  not  to  minister  to  the  taste  and  pride 
of  man ! 


Bishop  Candler 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  129 


"THE  MAN  WESLEY." 


Address  by  Bishop  W.  A.  Candler. 

Last  night,  in  the  Park  Tabernacle,  in  the  presence  of 
probably  4,000  people,  Bishop  Candler  delivered  a  forcible 
and  eloquent  address  on  the  subject,  "The  Man  Wesley.''  It 
was  the  first  time  during  the  celebration  that  the  weather 
had  permitted  the  use  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  people 
came  out  in  great  numbers  and  made  the  occasion  memor- 
able. 

During  the  evening  a  subscription  was  raised,  to  aid  in 
placing  an  assistant  pastor  to  work  under  the  direction  of 
Trinity,  and  to  act  as  missionary  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
city.  This  movement  was  started  in  the  Methodist  churches 
at  the  morning  services,  and  about  $1,500  was  pledged,  to  be 
paid  yearly  for  three  years.  The  subscription  raised  in  the 
tabernacle  amounted  to  about  $500. 

The  services  last  night  were  opened  with  prayer,  at  8  130 
o'clock,  by  Rev.  E.  F.  Cook.  Hymn  No.  354  "Jesus  Lover 
of  My  Soul,"  by  Charles  Wesley. 

BISHOP  CANDLER'S  ADDRESS. 

Bishop  Warren  A.  Candler  of  Georgia,  was  then  intro- 
duced by  Bishop  Galloway  of  Mississippi,  and  addressed  the 
assemblage,  speaking  as  follows : 

"There  was  a  man  sent  from  God  whose  name  was  John." 
If  the  discourse  appointed  for  this  hour  were  cast  in  ser- 
monic  form  it  would  not  be  irreverent  or  inapt  to  use  these 
words  as  the  text. 

John  the  Baptist  was  not  more  perfectly  described  by  them 
than  is  John  Wesley.  Both  were  divinely  commissioned  men, 
sent  to  do  different  parts  of  the  same  great  work — the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth.  Both 
sprang  from  a  priestly  line  and  both  lost  their  sacerdotal 
functions  by  absorption  in  the  loftier  labors  of  the  prophetic 
office.  To  both  multitudes  went  out  into  the  open  air,  to 
hear  under  God's  clear  sky  the  messenger  of  heaven ;  turn- 
ing away  from  altars  upon  which  the  fires  were  burning  low, 
to  heed  the  call  to  repentance  preached  with  the  power  of 
the  Holv  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven.  Both  revived  faith 


130  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

in  a  faithless  generation,  brought  new  life  to  a  parched  re- 
ligious era  and  wrought  a  national  reformation.  The  career 
of  one  was  brief,  the  revival  he  brought  to  pass  was  of  a 
short  duration,  and  his  ministry  ushered  in  the  long-expected 
Messiah.  The  other  lived  above  four-score  years,  produced 
under  God  a  revival  which  has  continued  for  more  than  a 
century,  and  which  promises  to  continue  until  the  Lord 
comes  again  without  sin  unto  salvation,  fulfilling  the  ar- 
dent hopes  of  Perronet  the  devout  Vicar  of  Shoreham,  who 
said  "I  make  no  doubt  that  Methodism,  notwithstanding  all 
the  wiles  of  Satan,  is  designed  by  divine  providence  to  intro- 
duce the  approaching  millenium." 

Wesley,  the  man  was  a  God-sent  man. 

This  is  true  in  a  sense  of  every  man.  Every  life  is  a  plan  of 
God,  alas  i  to  often  a  marred  and  frustrated  plan ! 

But  there  are  epochal  lives  of  which  it  is  specially  and  sign- 
ally true  that  they  are  God-sent.  They  fall  into  their  places 
like  the  stones  in  the  temple  of  Solomon,  hewn  aforehand 
with  reference  to  the  space  they  are  to  fill  and  the  super- 
structure they  are%  to  support.  They  are  so  loyal  to  the 
divine  will,  so  sensitive  to  the  divine  influence,  so  respon- 
sive to  the  divine  Providence,  and  so  charged  with  the  divine 
power  that  they  make  plain  to  the  dullest  vision  the  design 
of  God  in  themselves,  and  shed  a  light  behind  and  before 
which  reveals  the  holy  succession  to  which  they  belong.  The 
odor  of  their  anointing  fills  their  lives  with  a  heavenly 
perfume  and  sweetens  all  their  days. 

These  epochal  lives  are  the  visible  links  of  an  unbroken 
chain  of  spiritual  forces  which  holds  together  in  one  con- 
tinuous movement,  the  unhastening,  unwearying  and  un- 
failing purpose  of  God  which  through  the  ages  runs. 

Such  a  life  was  that  of  Enoch,  walking  with  God  three 
hundred  years,  carrying  in  his  holy  heart  memories  of  Eden 
received  from  Adam  and  transmitted  to  Noah ;  and  entering 
not  his  heavenly  home  until  he  had  delivered  to  his  succes- 
sors the  sacred  deposit  committed  to  his  charge  by  pa- 
triarchal sires  and  seers. 

Such  was  Noah  navigating  the  unknown  currents  of  a 
turbid  and  overwhelming  flood,  in  a  chartless  vessel  built 
by  plans  of  divine  designing  and  guided  by  an  invisible 
steersman  to  a  heaven-appointed  resting  place,  at  which  a 
new  race  might  begin  again  to  repeople  the  world  and  wor- 
ship with  purer  faith  and  holier  lives  the  God  of  earth  and 
skv. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  131 

Such  was  Abraham  the  father  of  the  faithful,  at  the  call 
of  God,  going  out  he  knew  not  whither,  sojourning  in  the 
land  of  promise  as  in  a  strange  country,  dwelling  in  tents 
with  Isaac  and  Jacob  and  looking  for  a  city,  which  hath 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God. 

Such  was  Joseph,  the  dreamer, — victim  of  fraternal  hate, 
exiled  in  childhood,  -passing  through  obloquy  and  prison 
that  he  might  appear  at  the  right  moment  the  vanquisher  of 
famine  and  the  preserver  of  Israel's  hope;  with'the  magnan- 
imity of  faith  declaring  to  his  brethren  in  the  hour  of  their 
extremity  "It  was  not  you  that  sent  me  hither  but  God  who 
did  send  me  before  you  to  preserve  life  and  hath  made  me  a 
father  of  Pharoah  and  lord  of  all  his  house  and  a  ruler 
throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt." 

Such  was  Moses,  the  man  of  God,  escaping  the  fierce  de- 
cree of  fhe  King  and  the  fiercer  beasts  of  the  Nile ;  with 
the  helpless  cries  of  his  infancy,  opening  the  springs  of  royal 
compassion  for  his  preservation  and  the  treasures  of  Egyp- 
tian wisdom  for  his  instruction ;  fleeing  under  a  heaven-given 
impulse  to  the  indispensable  tuition  of  Midian's  mountain 
with  its  burning  bush,  and  returning  at  length  with  his 
wonder-working  rod,  that  he  might  deliver  Israel  from  bond- 
age and  save  from  failure  the  promise  upon  which  the  faith 
of  Abraham  had  been  stayed,  and  from  which  the  rapturous 
hopes  of  the  dying  Jacob  in  prophetic  strains  had  sprung. 

Such  were  Joshua  and  Gideon  and  Samuel  and  David, 
who  through  faith,  wrought  righteousness,  siibdued  king- 
doms, and  turned  to  flight  armies  of  aliens  who  withstood 
the  cause  of  God. 

Such  was  John  the  Baptist  reaching  back  to  the  Tishbite 
behind  him,  as  in  duplicated  personality  he  echoed  in  the 
wilderness  the  fiery  invectives  of  Ahab's  reprover ;  and  reach- 
ing forward  to  the  Messiah  before,  as  in  tones  sweet  as  an- 
gelic strains,  he  exclaimed  :  "Behold  the  lamb  of  God,  which 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 

Such  was  Paul  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  filling  up  in 
his  flesh  that  which  was  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ ; 
by  an  apostolic  mediation  breaking  down  the  middle  wall 
of  partition  between  Judaism  and  Gentilism,  and  bringing 
into  every  part  of  the  world  of  the  first  century  that  glorious 
faith  in  which  "there  is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  Barbarian 
nor  Scythian,  bond  nor  free ;  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all." 

Such  was  Martin  Luther  catching  inspiration  from  the 
Pauline  letters  to  the  Galatian  and  Roman  churches,  and  re- 


132  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

storing  the  ancient  Gospel  of  the  apostolic  age,  unawed  by 
Popes  and  unterrified  by  princes. 

Such  was  John  Wesley,  finding  his  "heart  strangely  warm- 
ed" while  one  in  Aldersgate  Street  read  from  the  preface  of 
Luther's  commentary  on  the  Romans  and  going  forth  to 
bring  back  heaven's  glad  spring  time  to  his  own  and  other 
lands,  upon  which  the  gloom  of  doubt  and  the  chill  of  faith- 
lessness had  rested  like  an  Arctic  winter  all  too  long.  He 
belongs  to  the  high  order  of  heaven-sent  men,  who  in  a  holy 
line  stretch  from  Abie's  altar  at  the  gate  of  Paradise  to  our 
own  times,  and  who  rule  the  spirits  of  men  not  by  the  power 
of  the  hierarchs  of  a  prelatical  succession  but  by  the  priestly 
authority  of  lofty  souls  whom  God  has  anointed  with  fresh 
oil. 

That  this  elevation  of  him  to  a  seat  among  these  heroes 
of  faith  in  all  the  ages  may  be  justified  let  us  consider  some 
of  the  salient  features  of  his  life  in  connection  with  those 
characteristics  by  which  the  great  Providential  leaders  of 
men  are  always  certified  to  the  recognition  of  mankind. 

And  first  let  it  be  premised  that  the  purpose  of  God  is  al- 
ways a  moral  purpose,  and  that  therefore  the  chiefs  of  the 
race  who  most  deeply  and  enduringly  affect  it  are  religious 
leaders.  Abraham  is  the  best  remembered  man  of  his  gene- 
ration, and  such  of  his  contemporaries  as  are  remembered 
at  all  derive  their  renown  from  their  contact  with  him. 
Joseph  outranks  the  Pharaoh  whom  he  served,  and  Moses 
resting  in  the  unmarked  grave  where  the  hand  of  God  laid 
him  down  to  sleep  on  Moab's  lofty  peak,  influences  mankind 
as  do  not  all  the  embalmed  Pharaohs  who  slumber  in  royal 
tombs.  Daniel  is  more  to  men  than  Nebuchadnezzar,  Bel- 
shazzar  and  Darius.  Nero  ceased  to  rule  when  he  ceased  to 
live ;  but  the  prisoner  who  wrote  letters  from  the  camp  of 
the  Pretorian  guard,  hard  by  Nero's  palace,  lords  it  over  the 
souls  of  men  by  that  most  absolute  tyranny — the  tyranny  of 
love  and  faith.  Charles  V  fills  no  such  space  in  the  thoughts 
of  men  as  does  Martin  Luther  and  Wesley,  as  Southey  pre- 
dicted, is  better  known  than  Frederick  the  Great  or  Cather- 
ine of  Russia.  "The  Four  Georges"  are  not  to  be  mentioned 
in  the  same  breath  with  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Susannah 
Wesley. 

Again  the  leaders  of  mankind  are  always  men  of  single 
purpose — entirely  devoted  to  God.  Their  motto  always  and 
everywhere  is  "this  one  thing  I  do." 

Growing  out  of  this  singleness  of  purpose  and  devoted- 
ness  to  duty  they  work  by  faith,  as  well  as  walk  by  faith. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  133 

They  give  themselves  to  no  hard  and  fast  programmes,  but 
they  exalt  daily  duty  to  the  first  place  in  life,  and  without 
any  dreamy  presentiments  of  future  greatness  come  to  their 
high  estate,  transfigured  by  that  unconscious  greatness 
which  builds  always  wiser  than  it  knows,  because  it  builds 
under  divine  direction,  coupling  its  work  with  that  of  its 
fellow  servants  who  have  gone  before  it,  and  producing 
work  to  Avhich  its  heaven-appointed  successors  can  build  af- 
terwards. Out  of  its  deep  communings  with  God  it  comes 
forth  from  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High  like  Moses 
bearing  in  its  hands  laws  of  life  for  the  ages,  but  wisting 
not  that  its  face  shines  with  the  reflected  glory  of  God. 

It  is  always  magnanimous,  generous  and  serene,  careless 
of  earth's  gains  or  glories,  neither  elated  to  unsteadiness  by 
success  nor  dejected  to  despondency  by  apparent  defeat. 
Knowing  that  it  comes  from  God  and  goes  to  God,  con- 
scious of  the  power  committed  to  its  hands,  like  its  divine 
Master  it  can  in  the  same  night  stoop  to  wash  the  feet  of 
peasants,  dare  the  agonies  of  Gethsemane  or  endure  the  in- 
dignities of  Pilate's  judgment  hall,  without  humiliation,  fear 
or  despair. 

It  comes  to  its  end  at  last  in  a  straight  betwixt  two  lov- 
ing its  work  and  lingering  fondly  over  it,  while  the  tired 
heart  longs  for  its  heavenly  home  and  exults  in  its  Lords' 
presence. 

Now  all  these  features  conspire  to  make  up  the  true  pic- 
ture of  John  Wesley. 

With  talents  of  the  highest  order,  with  learning  the  most 
extensive,  with  prominent  and  promising  position  in  the 
scholastic  and  ecclesiastical  world,  he  deliberately,  intention- 
ally turned  away  from  every  earthly  good  that  men  of  the 
world  hold  dear,  and  devoted  himself  wholely  to  God  and 
religion.  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  did  but  state  the  simple 
truth  when  he  said  "Wesley  thought  of  religion  only."  Mat- 
thew Arnold  states  the  same  truth  in  different  phrase  when 
he  affirms  that  "Wesley  had  a  genius  for  godliness." 

Wesley's  devotion  to  the  cause  of  religion,  and  to  that 
only,  explains  why  we  are  here  to-night,  and  why  Savan- 
nah is  able  to  claim  him  as  the  greatest  man  who  has  ever 
lived  in  this  good  city.  Religion  brought  him  here.  He 
says  in  his  journal  of  his  coming,  "Our  end  in  leaving  our 
native  country  was  not  to  avoid  want  (God  having  given  us 
plenty  of  temporal  blessings)  nor  to  gain  riches  or  honor ; 
but  sine'lv  this — to  save  our  souls ;  to  live  wholly  to  the 
glory  of  God." 


134  WESLEY  B [-CENTENARY. 

And  again  in  a  letter  dated  October  10,  1735,  he  says  of 
his  Georgia  mission :  "My  chief  motive  is  the  hope  of  sav- 
ing my  own  soul.  I  hope  to  learn  the  true  sense  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  by  preaching  it  to  the  heathen." 

The  historian  Bancroft  describes  him  while  resident  in 
Georgia  as  "strolling  the  natural  avenues  of  palmettos  and 
ever-green  hollies,  and  woods  sombre  with  hanging  moss, 
his  heart  gushing  forth  in  addresses  to  God, 

"Is  there  a  thing  beneath  the  sun 

That  strives  with  thee  my  heart  to  share 

Ah  tear  it  thence  and  reign  alone 
The  Lord  of  every  motion  there." 

Indeed  these  lines,  which  Mr.  Bancroft  quotes,  so  felici- 
tously, are  from  the  hymn  translated  by  John  Wesley  from 
the  German  while  he  lived  in  Savannah.  They  are  the  exact 
expression  of  his  spirit  and  purpose  and  do  but  repeat  in 
verse  the  lofty  profession  of  St.  Paul  in  prose.  "I  count  aH 
but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus 
my  Lord;  for  whom  I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things 
and  do  count  them  but,  refuse  that  I  may  win  Christ." 

This  singleness  of  purpose  became  deeper  and  more  fixed 
with  added  years.  He  was  wont  to  say  "This  one  thing  I 
do,  spread  scriptural  holiness." 

His  time  and  talents  were  thus  wholly  given  to  God 
and  God's  grace  was  wholly  given  to  him,  imparting  to  him 
power  to  influence  his  own  and  later  generations  beyond  all 
the  power  of  statesmen  or  soldiers,  or  the  princes  of  trade 
and  commerce,  wherefore  the  skeptical  historian  Lecky  is 
constrained  to  say :  "Although  the  career  of  the  elder  Pitt, 
and  the  splendid  victories  by  land  and  sea,  that  were  won 
during  his  ministry,  form  unquestionably  the  most  dazzling 
episodes  in  the  reign  of  George  II.,  they  must  yield,  I  think, 
in  real  importance  to  that  religious  revolution  which  short- 
ly before  had  been  begun  in  England  by  the  preaching  of 
the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield.  The  creation  of  a  large,  power- 
ful and  active  sect,  extending  over  both  hemispheres,  and 
numbering  many  millions  of  souls,  was  but  one  of  its  con- 
sequences. It  also  exercised  a  profound  and  lasting  influ- 
ence upon  the  spirit  of  the  Established  Church,  upon  the 
amount  and  distribution  of  the  moral  forces  of  the  nation 
and  even  upon  the  course  of  its  political  history." 

Aiming  only  at  serving  God  and  saving  souls,  John  Wes- 
ley did  thereby  save  his  age  and  nation,  and  set  in  motion 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  135 

saving  influences  which  have  penetrated  to  every  part  of  the 
world. 

The  Wesleyan  revival  checked,  and  then  overcame  the  in- 
fluence of  Voltaire's  infidel  philosophizing,  and  arrested  its 
tendency  to  destructive  revolution  before  it  could  spread  be- 
yond the  borders  of  France.  Hereby  Wesley  saved  England 
from  the  damnation  of  doubt,  and  America  from  social  de- 
struction and  political  despair.  It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate 
the  dreadful  consequences  of  evil  which  would  have  accrued 
to  the  American  colonies  and  the  rising  republic  formed  by 
them,  if  Wesleyanism  had  not  prevented  Voltairism  from  se- 
curing a  foothold  in  England  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  the  sturdy  stocks  from  which  the  citizenship  of  America 
was  first  made  were  being  transported  to  and  transplanted 
in  the  new  world.  Moreover  the  Wesleyan  revival  chastened 
the  fierce  selfishness  of  the  newly-dawned  era  of  industrial- 
ism, bound  all  classes  together  in  bonds  of  the  most  sacred 
sympathies,  and  unified,  as  nothing  else  could  have  done, 
the  English  speaking  peoples  of  the  world.  It  tamed  the  wild 
passion  of  greed  and  postponed,  if  it  has  not  utterly  pre- 
vented, the  social  revolution  in  Great  Britain  and  America, 
which  the  most  optomistic  feared,  and  which  still  haunts 
with  apprehensions  the  dreams  of  many  thoughtful  men.  And 
it  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  the  dangers  which  beset 
us  to-day  in  the  matter  of  labor  and  capital  can  only  be 
averted  by  a  revival  of  the  Wesleyan  revival  in  our  own  day 
among  all  classes,  and  these  dangers  will  hasten  to  their 
culmination  by  just  so  much  as  we  delay  to  return  to  Wes- 
ley's God  by  the  experience  of  whose  saving  grace  the  divine 
fatherhood  and  human  brotherhood  are  made  so  real  to  the 
souls  of  men,  as  that  it  brings  peace  on  earth  as  well  as  glory 
in  the  highest.  The  antagonisms  of  classes  are  cleansed  and 
cured  when  the  wise  and  the  wealthy  come  with  peasants  and 
shepherds  to  open  their  treasure  and  adore  their  God  at  the 
Child  of  Bethlehem's  feet.  It  was  thus  England  and  Amer- 
ica were  saved  by  the  Wesleyan  revival  and  it  is  thus  they 
must  be  saved  again  if  saved  at  all. 

But  Wesley  planned  for  none  of  these  great  things. 

The  extent  of  the  work  surprised  him  as  much  as  it  grati- 
fied him.  He  said  "This  revival  of  religion  has  spread  to 
such  a  degree  as  neither  we  nor  our  fathers  had  known.  How 
extensive  has  it  been?  There  is  scarce  a  considerable  town 
in  the  kingdom,  where  some  have  not  been  witnesses  of  it. 
It  has  spread  to  every  age  and  sex,  to  most  orders  and  de- 
grees of  men ;  and  even  to  abundance  of  those  who,  in  time 


136  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

past,  were  accounted  monsters  of  wickedness.*  *  *  When 
has  true  religion,  I  will  not  say  since  the  reformation,  but 
since  the  time  of  Constantine,  the  Great,  made  so  large  a 
progress  in  any  nation,  within  so  small  a  space.  I  believe 
hardly  can  ancient  or  modern  history  afford  a  parellel  in- 
stance." While  thus  clearly  perceiving  the  greatness  of 
the  results  achieved  he  finds  the  cause  of  all  not  in  the 
wisdom  with  which  he  had  planned  nor  the  skill  with  which 
he  had  executed  the  work,  but  in  the  purpose  and  power 
of  God,  saying  "But  if  these  things  are  so,  may  we  not  well 
say  'What  hath  God  wrought'?" 

His  spirit  is  that  of  the  Psalmist :  "Not  unto  us  O  Lord, 
not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  give  glory.  For  thy  mercy 
and  for  thy  truth's  sake." 

When  his  followers  w,ere  only  about  thirty  thousand  souls, 
with  devout  wonder  he  exults : 

"O  the  fathomless  love,  that  hath  deigned  to  approve 

And  prosper  the  work  of  my  hands  f 
With  my  pastoral  crook  I  went  over  the  brook, 

And  behold  I  am  spread  into  bands. 

Who,  I  ask  in  amaze,  hath  gotten  me  these 
And  inquire  from  what  quarter  they  came ; 

My  full  heart  it  replies,  they  are  born  from  the  skies 
And  gives  glory  to  God  and  the  Lamb." 

Nor  was  he  more  surprised  by  the  extensiveness  and  swift- 
ness of  the  work,  than  by  the  methods  which  at  last  he  was 
led  to  adopt  for  its  accomplishment.  Most  of  the  characteris- 
tic instrumentalities  which  he  employed  were  not  the  inven- 
tions of  far-seeing  wisdom  but  the  tools  forced  into  his 
hands  by  an  over-ruling  providence  to  which  he  held  himself 
always  responsive.  So  came  the  class-meeting,  field  preach- 
ing, lay  preaching,  and  his  exercise  of  the  power  of  ordina- 
tion. 

Defending  field-preaching  he  savs  expressly:  "Be  pleased 
to  observe  (i)  That  I  was  forbidden  as  by  a  general  con- 
sent, to  preach  in  any  church  (though  not  by  any  judicial 
sentence)  'for  preaching  such  doctrine.'  This  was  the  open 
avowed  cause ;  there  was  at  that  time  no  other,  either  real  or 
pretended,  except  that  the  people  crowded  so.  (2.)  That 
I  had  no  desire  or  desien  to  preach  in  the  open  air,  till  after 
this  prohibition.  (3.)  That  when  I  did,  as  it  was  no  matter 
of  choice,  so  neither  of  premeditation.  There  was  no  scheme 
at  all  previously  formed  which  was  to  be  supported  thereby, 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  137 

nor  had  I  any  other  end  in  view  than  this — to  save  as  many 
souls  as  I  could."  Of  the  strength  of  the  conviction  by 
which  he  was  constrained  he  declares :  "It  were  better  for 
me  to  die  than  not  to  preach  the  gospel ;  yea  in  the  fields 
when  I  may  not  preach  in  the  church,  or  when  the  church 
will  not  contain  the  congregation." 

He  was  opposed  to  lay-preaching,  and  when  during  his 
absence  from  London,  Thomas  Maxfield,  whom  he  had  left 
at  the  Foundry  Society  to  pray  with  and  advise  the  mem- 
bers, was  insensibly  led  from  praying  to  preaching,  he  hur- 
ried back  to  London  for  the  purpose  of  stopping  the  irregu- 
larity. But  when  he  came  and  heard  Maxfield  for  himself, 
and  saw  the  fruits  of  his  preaching,  like  the  good  Barnabas 
when  he  saw  the  grace  of  God  at  Antioch,  he  was  "glad" 
and  said,  "It  is  of  the  Lord;  let  Him  do  what  seemeth  him 
good." 

He  ordained  Coke  and  Whatcoat  and  Vasey,  and  provided 
for  the  ordination  of  Asbury  and  the  other  American  preach- 
ers, under  the  compulsion  of  what  he  described  as  "an  un- 
common train  of  providences,"  and  said  of  the  act,  "If  any 
one  will  point  out  a  more  rational  and  scriptural  way  of 
feeding  and  guiding  those  poor  sheep  in  the  wilderness,  I 
will  gladly  embrace  it.  At  present  I  can  not  see  any  other 
method  than  that  I  have  taken." 

From  his  conduct  in  these  matters  of  field-preaching,  lay- 
preaching  and  the  ordination  of  his  preachers,  and  from  the 
whole  course  of  his  life,  it  is  clear  that  he  moved  not  under 
the  intention  of  fulfilling  any  preconceived  programme  of  his 
own ;  but  with  ready  submission  to  the  divine  plan  he  was 
earnestly  seeking  to  serve  his  own  generation  by  the  will  of 
God,  without  regard  to  policies  or  consequences.  With 
Paul  he  might  justly,  and  without  boasting  have  said 
"neither  count  my  life  dear  unto  myself  so  that  I  might 
finish  my  course  with  joy  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  re- 
ceived of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace 
of  God." 

Feeling  hims"elf  thus  bound  to  a  particular  course,  within 
the  purposes  of  the  God  who  is  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting, and  who  had  been  working  hitherto  and  would  work, 
Wesley  thought  only  of  present  dutv,  not  dreaming  of  any 
innovation  upon  the  gospel  which  in  the  hands  of  mighty 
men  before  him  had  been  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation 
nor  disquieting  himself  about  the  future  effects  of  his  own 
toil.  He  was  no  innovator  with  regard  to  the  past  nor  dic- 
tator with  reference  to  the  future.  Hear  him :  "Methodism  so 


138  WESLEY  BI-CENTENABY. 

called  is  the  old  religion,  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  the  re- 
ligion of  the  primitive  church,  the  religion  of  the  Church 
of  England."  That  is  not  the  language  of  a  pert  innovator 
but  of  a  reverent  renovator,  not  of  a  revolutionist  but  of  a 
revivalist. 

Concerning  the  future,  his  spirit  is  best  expressed  by  a 
favorite  saying  of  his  brother  Charles  often  on  his  own 
lips  "God  buries  his  workmen  but  carries  on  his  work." 

Conscious  of  living  a  divinely  ordered  life  he  was  the 
embodiment  of  magnaminity  and  the  incarnation  of  unworld- 
liness.  Toiling  for  neither  earthly  treasure  nor  worldly 
fame  his  spirit  was  elevated  to  a  plane  too  lofty  for  personal 
controversy  and  too  serene  for  disquietude  concerning  any 
personal  interest.  He  could  and  did  sing  with  perfect  sin- 
cerity and  hMy  fervor: 

"The  things  eternal  I  pursue 

A  happiness  beyond  the  view 

Of  those  who  basely  pant 

For  things  by  nature  felt  and  seen, 

Their  honors,  wealth  and  pleasure  mean, 
I  neither  have  nor  want." 

Abounding  in  labors  and  filled  with  peace,  his  health  of 
soul  seemed  to  promote  health  of  body.  He  lived  to  be 
eighty-eight  years  of  age  and*preached  above  sixty  years,  al- 
though at  fifty-one  years  of  age  all  supposed  him  fatally  dis- 
eased with  pulmonary  consumption  and  that  his  end  was  near. 
At  the  age  of  eighty-one  he  preached  at  Kingswood  under 
the  shadow  of  trees  which  he  himself  had  planted,  and  to  the 
children's  children  of  men  and  women  who  by  his  ministry 
had  been  brought  to  God. 

Of  the  surpassing  beauty  of  his  old  age  we  catch  a 
glimpse  from  George  Eliot  in  "Adam  Bede"  when  Dinah 
Morris  says:  "I  remember  his  face  well.  He  was  a  very 
old  man,  and  had  very  long  white  hair;  his  voice  was  very 
soft  and  beautiful,  not  like  any  voice  I  have  ever  heard  be- 
fore. I  was  a  little  girl,  and  scarcely  knew  anything,  and  this 
old  man  seemed  to  me  such  a  different  sort  of  man  from  any- 
body I  had  ever  seen  before,  that  I  thought  he  had  perhaps 
come  down  from  the  sky  to  preach  to  us.  I  said,  'Aunt  will 
he  go  back  to  the  sky  to-night  like  the  picture  in  the  Bible?' 
That  man  of  God  was  Mr.  Wesley,  who  spent  his  whole  life 
in  doing  what  our  blessed  Lord  did — preaching  the  gospel 
to  the  poor." 


WESLEY  BI-CKNTENARY.  139 

Well,  that  "Man  of  God"  did  at  last  go  back  to  the  God 
who  sent  him  forth.  For  three  months  before  his  departure 
he  sang  almost  daily  at  family  worship  the  hymn  in  which 
are  found  the  lines: 

"O  that  without  a  lingering  groan 

I  may  the  welcome  word  receive, 
My  body  with  my  charge  lay  down 

And  cease  at  once  to  work  and  live." 

The  day  before  he  died  he  sang: 

"I'll  praise  my  Maker  while  I've  breath 

And  when  my  voice  is  lost  in  death 
Praise  shall  employ  my  nobler  powers; 

My  days  of  praise  shall  ne'er  be  past 
While  life  and  thought  and  being  last 

Or  immortality  endures." 

On  the  next  morning — Wednesday,  March  2,  1791 — he 
passed  away.  Among  his  last  audible  words  was  the  triump- 
ant  exclamation  "The  best  of  all  is,  God  is  with  us !" 

So  ended  the  earthly  life  of  this  divinely  sent  man.  this 
prophet  of  the  eighteenth  century,  given  of  God  to  the  world 
to  carry  forward  His  ancient  Kingdom  and  to  hasten  the 
coming  of  that  glorious  day  when  the  Kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  have  become  the  Kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  his 
Christ. 

We  do  well  to  celebrate  the  day  of  his  birth  in  this  city 
which  in  its  infancy  was  consecrated  by  his  ministry — the 
only  place  in  the  New  World  in  which  he  ever  lived.  He  was 
the  greatest  citizen  Savannah  has  ever  had  nor  will  it  ever 
have  a  greater.  His  brief  ministry  here  places  the  name 
of  this  beautiful  city  by  the  sea  with  the  names  of  Antioch 
and  Wittenburg  where  Paul  lived  and  Luther  preached  the 
unsearchable  riches  of  Christ. 

We  do  well  in  this  place  to  honor  his  memory  and  recall 
his  virtues,  we  do  still  better  to  learn  and  lay  to  heart  the 
lessons  of  his  life. 

Let  us  learn  that  in  this  world  which  God  made  for  re- 
ligious ends  only  religious  efforts  shall  at  last  prevail  and 
religious  influences  shall  alone  endure.  "The  world  passeth 
away  and  the  lust  thereof ;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  forever."  "They  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the 
brightness  of  the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to 
righteousness  as  the  stars  forever  and  ever." 


140  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

And  if  we  would  turn  many  to  righteousness  we  must  in- 
tend to  do  it  and  aim  at  nothing  else.  That  will  endow  our 
efforts  with  a  wisdom  more  prescient  than  any  human  fore- 
sight, for  the  Omniscient  will  direct  our  toil,  carrying  for- 
ward our  work  by  the  momentum  of  the  divine  movement  in 
all  the  ages  past  and  assuring  it  with  the  glowing  prophecies 
by  which  the  future  is  illumined. 

The  consciousness  of  a  divine  commission  and  a  single- 
minded  effort  to  fulfill  it,  will  elevate  our  souls,  purge  us  of 
greed  and  cure  us  of  ambition,  restrain  our  impatience 
and  inspire  our  courage,  rebuke  our  despondency  and  make 
sure  our  hopes,  give  us  peace  and  power — and  in  the  end  vic- 
tory through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Best  of  all  God 
will  be  with  us  and  bless  us  and  make  us  a  blessing. 


Rev.  John  Franklin  Goucher 


WESLKY  BI-CENTENARY.  143 


TABLETS  UNVEILED. 


Closing  Features  of  Bi-Centenarv  Celebration. 


ADDRESS  BY  DR.  J.  F.  GOUCHER. 

The  services  in  Trinity  began  at  II  o'clock.  At  that  hour 
the  church  was  filled  with  interested  people,  and  upon  the 
platform,  and  in  the  chancel  were  noted,  Bishop  W.  A. 
Candler,  Bishop  Galloway,  Rev.  Thos.  D.  Ellis,  Rev.  Dr. 
A.  M.  Williams,  Rev.  H.  C.  Christian,  Judge  S.  B.  Adams, 
Hon.  J.  C.  C.  Black.  Hon  DuPont  Guerry,  Rev.  Dr.  John 
D.  Jordan.  Rev.  Dr.  McCorkle.  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Y.  Fair,  Rev. 
Dr.  W.  C.  Schaeffer,  Rev.  J.  A.  Smith,  Rev.  G.  G.  N. 
McDonell,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.  Heidt,  Col.  J.  R.  Saus- 
sy,  Rev.  Dr.  Fullwood,  Rev.  C.  A.  Jackson,  Hon.  A.  O. 
Bacon.  Hon.  R.  E.  Lester  and  others. 

Bishop  Candler  announced  that  the  service  would  open 
with  the  singing  of  hymn  No.  435.  This  was  one  of  the 
hymns  by  John  Wesley.  Rev.  Dr.  Fullwood  then  led  in  pray- 
er, and  Bishop  Galloway  read  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures 
from  the  first  chapter  of  St.  John. 

Rev.  Dr.  Goucher  was  then  introduced  by  Bishop  Candler 
and  delivered  his  address. 

The  Coetaneous  Rise  of  Methodism  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  Supremacy. 

Greatness  of  character,  personal  or  national,  is  to  be  de- 
termined by  its  contribution  to  human  well-being.  Large- 
ness is  not  necessarily  greatness.  Judged  by  this  standard 
the  greatest  race  of  modern  times  is  the  Anglo-Saxon.  I 
use  the  term  "Anglo  Saxon"  to  designate  not  only  those  who 
trace  their  descent  back  directly  to  the  Angle  and  the  Saxon, 
but  those  also  who  having  descended  collaterally,  or,  asso- 
ciated with  them,  have  helped  develop  and  perpetuate  their 
characteristics. 

They  were  not  always  a  maritime,  commercial,  industrial, 
world  governing  people.  Though  of  Teutonic  origin,  they 
had  gradually  withdrawn  from  the  continent  of  Europe  and 
for  a  thousand  years  till  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
their  activities  were  insular  and  England  was  their  home. 
They  had  undertaken  some  voyages,  adventures  and  polar 


144  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

exploration  which  yielded  considerable  return  in  personal  de- 
velopment of  seamanship  and  audacity,  but  the  first  genera- 
tion of  great  European  discoverers  had  passed  before  the 
Anglo-Saxons  made  any  valuable  contribution  to  world 
knowledge.  Three  quarters  of  a  century  had  elapsed  since  the 
epoch-making  achievements  of  Columbus  and  Vasco  da 
Game,  transferring  the  center  of  human  interest  from  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  before  Chancellor 
explored  the  White  Sea,  Drake  circumnavigated  the  globe  or 
Frobisher  sought  for  the  "northwest  passage."  But  these 
men  had  their  preparation  in  time  to  defy  and  help  destroy 
the  Spanish  Armada.  When  the  sixteenth  century  closed 
the  Anglo-Saxons  were  without  a  single  possession  out- 
side of  Europe  and  had  dominion  over  only  half  their  Island 
and  a  part  of  Ireland. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  there  was  an  almost  continuous 
ferment  with  periods  of  apparent  reaction,  but  there  was  a 
steady  development  of  larger  ideals  and  preparation  for  a 
larger  mission.  England  established  the  internal  union  of 
the  three  kingdoms  and  improved  her  governmental  organi- 
zation. Vane  organized  and  Blake  wielded  her  navy  in  such 
manner  as  to  lay  the  beginnings  for  her  maritime  supremacy, 
which  was  preliminary  to  her  commercial  and  industrial  de- 
velopment. She  set  her  face  definitely  and  resolutely  to- 
wards the  Ocean  and  entered  upon  a  Colonial  policy,  which 
though  narrow  and  selfish,  was  of  immense  significance. 
Commencing  more  than  a  century  after  Spain  and  follow- 
ing a  long  way  in  the  wake  of  Portugal,  France  and  Hol- 
land, England  possessed  herself  of  a  part  of  this  western 
world.  For  obvious  reasons,  Portugal  and  Holland  were 
forced  out  of  the  struggle  and  Spain,  concentrating  her  op- 
pressions upon  Central  and  South  America,  left  France  and 
England  as  the  great  competitors  for  this  North  American 
continent. 

From  1688  to  1815  England  was  engaged  in  seven  great 
wars.  Five  of  these  started  with  France,  one  started  with 
Spain  and  the  other  with  England's  colonies,  but  both  ended 
with  France.  "It  was  more  than  an  inveterate  jealousy.  It 
was  not  because  of  their  proximity."  -It  was  an  irrepressible 
struggle  which  could  not  cease  until  fought  to  the  finish, 
for  it  was  to  determine  whether  a  Latin  or  the  Anglo-Saxon 
civilization,  whether  personal  subservience  to  priestcraft  or 
intellectual  and  spiritual  freedom,  whether  slavery  or  man- 
hood should  have  the  mastery,  not  in  Europe  only,  it  was 
for  world  supremacy,  and  for  all  the  future. 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  145 

Though  France  preceded  England  in  colonizing  enterprise, 
she  laid  her  chief  stress  upon  European  expansion  and  was 
always  entangled  with  the  nations  about  her.  England,  with 
her  personal  initiative  rapidly  developing,  sought  with  her 
characteristic  persistence  the  new  fields,  America,  Asia,  Aus- 
tralia and  Africa.  She  had  a  few  colonies  along  the  Atlantic 
Coast,  but  France  had  possessed  herself  of  the  two  great 
rivers,  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi,  and  was  in  posi- 
tion to  dominate  the  continent. 

When  "the  Great  Commoner"  said  he  "would  conquer 
America  in  Germany,"  he  disclosed  the  weakness  in  the  policy 
of  France.  Subsidizing  Frederick  he  caused  France  to 
divide  her  forces  and  exhaust  herself  in  Europe  while  her 
possessions  in  America  passed  defenceless  into  the  hands  of 
the  Anglo-Saxons. 

In  the  three  wars  between  1740  and  1783  the  struggle  as 
between  England  and  France  was  entirely  for  the  New 
World.  In  the  second,  the  seven  years  war,  France  was  de- 
feated. In  the  third  she  sought  for  vengeance.  We  as  a 
nation  should  be  grateful  to  France  for  the  recognition  of 
our  young  and  untried  republic  and  for  the  material  support 
which  she  gave  us,  yet  we  cannot  forget  her  motive  was  re- 
venge rather  than  love.  So  later,  Napoleon,  conscious  that 
with  her  inferior  naval  strength  France  could  not  protect 
Louisiana  from  the  British,  preferred  to  have  it  pass  into 
the  hands  of  the  United  States  rather  than  have  England 
seize  it.  France's  jealousy  of  England  enabled  us,  without 
firing  a  gun,  to  double  our  area  at  a  price  equivalent  to  less 
than  three  cents  per  acre.  It  was  another  victory  in  the 
same  campaign,  the  Anglo-Saxon  displacing  the  Latin.  We 
continued  at  Manilla  and  Santiago  what  England  had  so 
gloriously  began  at  Aix  la  Chappel,  Quebec  and  Arcot. 
Spain,  Portugal  and  France,  all  Latin  nations  and  all  world 
powers  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  are  in 
their  reminiscent  stage  to-day.  No  one  of  them  has  any  em- 
pire in  the  western  world. 

When  the  eighteenth  century  closed  it  left  England  with- 
out one  of  her  original  American  colonies  and  a  war  debt  of 
$4,200,000,000.  But  a  sister  Anglo-Saxon  nation  was  well 
established  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  Canada  had  beco.me 
an  English  possession,  the  Latin  civilization  had  been  started 
at  a  double-quick  upon  its  evacuation  of  North  America,  the 
Britain  was  more  manly,  the  Anglo-Saxon  was  more  Chris- 
tian, and  the  foundations  of  the  empire  of  manhood  had  been 
laid  in  everv  continent. 


146  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

The  race  for  supremacy  upon  which  England  fairly  started 
when  she  defeated  the  Spanish  Armada  in  1588  was  awarded 
her  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht  in  1713,  which  secured  the  Pro- 
testant succession  in  England,  the  separation  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  Crowns  and  the  enlargement  of  the  British 
colonies  and  plantations  in  America.  This  caused  her  to  be 
considered  the  first  State  in  Europe.  But  "her  success  had 
secularized  and  materialized  her  as  nothing  had  ever  done 
before.  Cynicism  and  corruption  had  set  in.  Never  were 
sordid  motives  so  supreme,  never  was  religion  and  every  high 
influence  so  much  discredited  as  in  the  thirty  years  which  fol- 
lowed." (J.  R.  Seely).  The  infection  from  the  reign  of  Charles 
II,  of  whom  Macaulay  says,  "honor  and  shame  to  him  were 
scarcely  more  than  light  and  darkness  to  the  blind,"  gave 
virulence  to  every  debasing  influence.  Stevens  says,  "The 
court  became  a  royal  brothel,  the  playhouse  became  the  tem- 
ple of  England  where  'the  loose  wit  of  Congreve,'  Dryden 
declares,  'was  its  only  prop.'  The  works  of  Smollett  and 
Fielding  and  similar  authors,  dedicated  to  the  first  ladies 
of  the  court,  were  the  parlor-table  books  of  the  age.  The 
skeptical  books  of  Hobbs,  Collins,  Shaftbury,  Bolingbroke, 
Hume  and  Gibbon  were  in  free  circulation.  Voltaire  and 
Rousseau  had  decked  the  corrupt  doctrines  of  the  day  with 
the  attractions  of  eloquence  and  poetry,  humor  and  satire, 
until  they  swept  over  France  like  a  sirrocco,  withering  not 
only  the  sentiments  of  religion,  but  the  instincts  of  human- 
ity, and  subverting  at  last  in  common  ruin  the  altar,  the 
throne  and  the  moral  protections  of  domestic  life.  The  con- 
tagion of  French  opinion,  both  in  religion  and  politics,  ser- 
iously infected  England.  The  continental  infidelity  had  in 
fact  sprung  from  English  deism  and  naturally  reacted  upon 
it." 

The  scoffing  and  scurrilous  infidelity  of  France  was  more 
menacing  and  dangerous  to  England  than  her  armies,  navy 
and  Catholicism  combined.  The  ribald  literature,  the  for- 
mality of  religion,  the  licentiousness  of  the  Court,  the  pro- 
fligacy of  the  cultured  and  the  gross  sensuality  of  the  masses 
were  destroying  the  moral  fiber  of  England  and  threatening 
n  scandalous  dissipation  of  all  she  had  acquired.  Bishop 
Burnet  says,  "The  clergy  were  under  more  contempt  than 
those  of  any  other  church  in  Europe ;  for  they  were  much 
more  remiss  in  their  labors  and  less  severe  in  their  lives.  I 
cannot  look  on  without  the  deepest  concern,  when  I  see  im- 
minent ruin  hanging  over  the  Church  and,  by  consequence, 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  147 

over  the  Reformation."  "Never  was  religion  at  a  lower 
ebb." 

Arch-Bishop  Seeker  says,  "Such  are  the  dissoluteness  and 
contempt  of  principle  in  the  higher  part  of  the  world  and 
the  profligacy,  intemperance  and  fearlessness  of  committing 
crime  in  the  lower  as  must,  if  this  torrent  of  impiety  stop 
not,  become  absolutely  fatal." 

Bishop  Butler  writes,  "It  has  come  to  be  taken  for  granted 
that  Christianity  is  no  longer  a  subject  of  enquiry,  and  noth- 
ing remained  but  to  set  it  up  as  the  principal  subject  for 
mirth  and  ridicule." 

Isaac  Taylor  says,  "The  people  of  England  had  lapsed  in- 
to heathenism,  or  a  state  hardlyto  be  distinguished  from  it, 
when  Wesley  appeared." 

A  writer  in  the  North  American  Review  says,  "Never  has 
a  century  risen  in  Christian  England  so  void  of  soul  and 
faith,  it  rose  a  sunless  dawn  followed  by  a  dewless  night. 
The  Puritans  were  buried  and  the  Methodists  were  not  born." 
But  as  Saul  when  "breathing  out  threatening  and  slaughter 
against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord"  was  arrested  and  trans- 
formed into  the  anostle  to  the  Gentiles,  by  the  incoming  of 
the  Divine  life,  so  there  came  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic  a  spiritual  awakening  which  recon- 
structed, conserved  and  energized  their  moral  life  and  made 
possible  their  greater  mission. 

In  the  middle  third  of  the  eighteenth  century  occurred 
"the  great  spiritual  awakening"  in  England  and  "the  seven 
years  war,"  two  epoch-making  events  which  are  still  unfold- 
ing their  constructive  influence  throughout  the  world. 
These  relegated  the  Latin  civilization  to  the  background  and 
determined  Anglo-Saxon  supremacy.  When  the  religious 
and  social  life  of  England  were  most  deplorable  and  before 
she  entered  upon  her  great  decisive  struggle  with  France, 
John  Wesley  returned  from  America  with  one  passion  pos- 
sessing him.  He  desired  and  purposed  above  all  things  to 
prove  the  conditions,  extent  and  power  of  a  knowable  salva- 
tion. Nearly  four  months  afterward,  on  May  24th,  1738,  he 
writes,  "About  a  quarter  before  nine,  (in.  the  evening),  I 
felt  my  heart  strangely  warmed,  I  felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ, 
Christ  alone  for  salvation ;  and  assurance  was  given  me,  that 
He  had  taken  away  my  sins,  even  mine,  and  saved  me  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death."  That  was  his  Penial.  There  he 
entered  into  the  experience  of  personal  acceptance  with  God 
through  Christ,  of  personal  purity  through  the  indwelling 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  of  personal  abnegation  in  the  service 


148  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

of  others.  This  was  the  power  of  the  new  life.  He  and  his 
followers,  "for  their  number  increased  daily,"  believed  them- 
selves thrust  out  to  raise  up  a  holy  people  and  their  devo- 
tion, industry  and  efficiency  fully  justified  their  belief.  In 
the  latter  part  of  1739  the  first  Methodist  Societies  were  or- 
ganized, and  the  old  Foundry  in  London  was  consecrated 
and  opened  for  regular  public  worship. 

Thus  the  great  revival  of  the  eighteenth  century  was 
launched.  It  was  no  local,  spasmodic  or  superficial  matter. 
It  was  not  a  re-formation  within  the  Established  Church. 
John  Wesley  and  his  associates,  both  ordained  clergymen 
and  local  preachers,  itinerated  through  England  and  Ireland. 
''Their  voice  was  soon  heard  in  the  wildest  and  most  bar- 
barous corners  of  the  land,  among  the  bleak  Moors  of 
Northumberland,  in  the  dens  of  London,  in  the  long  galleries 
where  in  the  pauses  of  his  labor  the  Cornish  miners  listens  to 
the  surfing  of  the  Sea,"  and  from  the  green  knoll  at  Kings- 
wood,  where  twenty  thousand  colliers,  grimy  from  the  Bris- 
tol coal  pits,  with  penitential  tears  "making  white  channels 
down  their  blackened  cheeks,"  testified  their  response  to  the 
message.  "Their  lives  were  often  in  danger,  they  were  mob- 
bed, they  were  ducked,  they  were  stoned,  they  were  smother- 
ed with  filth"  as  they  witnessed  by  public  statement,  by  priv- 
ate virtue,  by  personal  sacrifice  and  patient  endurance  of 
hardships  and  persecution,  witnessing  with  their  blood  if 
need  be,  to  that  which  they  had  experienced  and  knew  of 
the  power  of  God  to  save  from  sin. 

Signs  and  wonders  attended  their  preaching  in  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  obdurate,  the  conversion  of  penitents  and  the 
sanctification  of  believers.  This  was  not  an  exceptional  oc- 
currence, nor  confined  to  some  one  class  of  society.  Con- 
gregations numbering  many  thousands  waited  upon  their 
preaching.  The  most  brutal  denizens  of  the  slums  and  col- 
lieries, as  well  as  clergymen,  scholars  and  members  of  the 
nobility  realized  the  experience  and  testified,  by  their  lives, 
to  its  saving  power.  So  far  as  the  converts  were  willing  to 
identify  themselves  with  the  movement,  they  were  organized 
into  bands  or  classes  and  placed  under  the  watchful  care  of 
local  pastors  or  class  leaders  who  counseled  them  in  spiritual 
things  and  conserved  their  spiritual  guwth. 

The  revival  spread  in  all  directions.  It  penetrated  all 
churches.  All  philanthropies  and  all  conditions  of  life  felt 
its  impulse.  Isaac  Taylor  says,  it  "preserved  from  extinct- 
tion  and  reanimated  the  languishing  non-conformity  of  the 
last  century,  which  just  at  the  time  of  the  Methodist  revival, 


WESLEY  SI-CENTENARY.  149 

was  rapidly  in  course  to  be  found  nowhere  but  in  books.'' 
Lecky  says,  "It  infused  into  the  Established  Church  a  new 
fire  and  passion  of  devotion,  kindled  a  spirit  of  fervent  philan- 
thropy, raised  the  standard  of  clerical  duty,  and  completely 
altered  the  whole  tone  and  tendency  of  the  preaching  of  its 
ministers."  It  was  common  talk  at  the  clubs  and  discussed 
through  the  Press.  No  class  escaped  its  direct  or  indirect 
influence.  It  wrought  a  political  revolution  and  a  moral  re- 
surrection. It  inaugurated,  as  Green  says,  "the  steady  at- 
tempt, which  has  never  ceased  from  that  day  to  this,  to 
remedy  the  guilt,  the  ignorance,  the  physical  sufferings,  th-: 
social  degredation  of  the  profligate  and  the  poor." 

It  made  no  attemot  to  conserve  spirituality  by  undue  em- 
phasis of  orthodoxy,  but  orthodoxy  was  conserved  by  main- 
taining a  living  experience  of  fellowship  with  God.  It  re- 
united in  holy  wedlock  religion  and  morality  which  had  been 
a  long  time  divorced.  It  brought  hope  to  sullen  despair, 
gave  joy  for  the  sorrows  of  poverty,  an  intellectual  uplift  and 
spiritual  impulse  where  there  had  been  ignorance  and  gross 
immorality  and  moral  rectitude  and  peace  unutterable  to  th? 
penitent  and  believer.  The  cynical  and  sordid  tendency  of 
the  times  gave  way  to  practical  sympathy  and  organized  be- 
nevolence. The  tidal  wave  of  French  infidelity  was  turned 
back  and  England  saved  from  the  blight  of  its  foul  immoral- 
ities, its  destructive  tenets  and  the  horrors  of  an  anarchical 
revolution  by  this  quickening  of  her  conscience  and  develop- 
ment of  moral  earnestness. 

The  enthronement  of  high  ideals,  the  development  of  mor- 
ality, the  impulse  for  education,  the  quickening  of  industrial 
activities  and  the  awakening  of  lovalty  throughout  Great 
Britain  were  incidentals,  or  bye-products,  of  the  revival,  but 
they  made  possible  the  success  of  the  elder  Pitt's  colonial 
and  continental  policy  of  coordinating  Europe  and  America 
with  the  Anglo-Saxon  ideals,  an-1  contributed  largely  to  th" 
work  of  Clive,  who  turned  a  trading  company  into  a  political 
power  and  inaugurated  a  hundred  v~ars  of  continuous  con- 
quest of  India.  Wherever  the  Anglo-Saxon  has  entrenched 
himself  the  influences  of  that  revival  have  helped  to  make  his 
home. 


150  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 


IT  FOUND  ITS  WAY  TO  AMERICA. 

About  1762  Robert  Strawbridge  was  preaching  in  the 
colony  of  Maryland  and  a  few  years  later  Philip  Embury 
commenced  to  preach  in  New  York.  The  Conference  at 
Bristol  in  1771  sent  to  America,  Francis  Asbury  whose  in- 
defatigable and  apostolic  labors  have  rarely  been  exceeded. 
He  crossed  the  Alleghenies  on  horseback  sixty  times, 
threading  the  forests,  swimming  the  rivers,  penetrating  the 
savannahs,  preaching,  exhorting,  counseling  in  season  and 
out  of  season.  He  soon  developed  a  heroic  band  of  conse- 
crated, spiritually  minded  men  and  the  marvelous  results  of 
the  great  spiritual  awakening  in  England  were  duplicated  in 
her  American  colonies.  The  Classes  were  organized  into 
Conferences  in  1773.  In  less  than  a  month  after  war  had 
been  declared  with  England,  the  Methodist  Conference  or- 
dered a  fast  to  pray  for  the  peace  of  America  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Church,  and  the  Methodist  Church  was  the 
first  to  express  approval  of  the  Federal  Constitution  and  to 
give  President  Washington  assurance  of  loyal  sympathy  and 
support. 

The  spirit  of  Methodism  is  the  spirit  of  liberty.  Though 
organized  under  a  monarchy  it  has  especially  flourished  in 
this  Republic.  In  fact  Methodism  and  the  Republic  have 
developed  together  and  the  progress  of  the  one  has  be.n  the 
measure  of  the  other. 

The  United  States  is  the  great  colonizing  nation  of  mod- 
ern times.  To  possess  unoccupied  land  or  to  defeat  par- 
tially organized  tribes  is  one  thing,  to  develop  civilization 
and  national  life  is  quite  another.  We  multiplied  our  popu- 
lation by  sixteen  in  the  nineteenth  century,  founded  more 
than  thirty  flourishing  colonies,  saw  them  develop  into  sover- 
eign states  and  accepted  them  as  full  members  of  the  Union 
While  the  foundations  of  these  Empires  were  being  laid  and 
their  constitutions  elaborated  the  forces  and  ideals  which 
dominated  were  Anglo-Saxon,  for  rarely,  if  ever,  in  any  of 
the  early  years  of  the  century,  did  the  emigrants  to  the 
United  States  exceed  six  thousand.  The  work  of  the  pioneer 
in  taking  possession  of  the  middle  and  far  west,  commenc- 
ing1 at  the  close  of  the  Revolution  and  still  in  the  full  sweep 
of  its  activitv,  has  been  more  than  occupancy  or  reconstruc- 
tion, it  has  been  creative  and  constructive. 

A  determininer  factor  in  this  creative  and  constructive 
work  has  been  the  Methodist  itinerant  preacher.  No  isola- 
tion could  elude  him,  no  hardship  daunt  him.  He  was  re- 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  151 


sourceful,  pervasive  and  persuasive.  By  his  persistent  pre- 
sentation of  the  unalterable  requirements,  eternal  motives 
and  infinite  resources  of  God  as  the  essentials  of  human 
character  he  laid  deep  and  built  wisely  the  foundations  of 
society.  The  itinerant  system,  the  doctrines  of  free  will,  free 
grace,  personal  accountability  and  personal  experience  of  a 
full,  knowable  salvation,  peculiarly  suited  the  pioneer  spirit 
of  the  people. 

During  the  past  century  Methodism  multiplied  its  com- 
municants in  America  by  ninety-nine.  At  the  opening  of 
the  nineteenth  century  all  Protestantism  in  the  United 
States  had  one  communicant  to  fourteen,  and  Methodism 
but  one  to  eighty-one  of  the  entire  population.*  At  the 
close  of  the  nineteenth  century  Methodism  had  6,437,461 
communicants,  or  one  to  twelve  of  the  entire  population. 
One  branch  of  Methodism  in  this  country  during  the  past 
three  years  has  laid  upon  the  altar  of  God,  for  its  ordinary 
expenses,  stated  benevolences  and  as  a  special  thank  offer- 
ing, Ninety-five  Millions  of  Dollars. 

The  followers  of  Wesley  commenced  work  in  India  in  1817. 
They  were  reenforced  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
just  before  the  great  Sepoy  Mutiny,  and  entered  upon  the 
work  of  construction  as  soon  as  the  Union  Jack  conquered 
the  right  of  way  for  the  heralds  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace. 
Their  aggressive  work  and  manifest  results  far  exceed  those 
of  any  other  church  in  the  Empire. 

The  Methodist  Revival  in  England  commenced  before  "the 
seven  years  war ;"  in  America  it  commenced  before  "the 
Revolution  ;"  in  India  its  agents  were  on  the  ground  before 
the  British  authoritv  was  fimlly  established.  In  each  case, 
as  elsewhere,  the  rise  of  Methodism  was  coetaneous  with 
Anglo-Saxon  supremacy.  At  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury Methodism  included  in  its  various  branches  48,350  min- 
isters, 104,836  local  preachers,  89,189  churches,  7,267,511 
Sundav  Schopl  scholars  and  7,659,285  communicants  and 
the  Methodist  population  numbered  about  Thirtv  Millions, 
which  is  more  than  twice  as  many  as  there  were  Ancdo-Six- 
ons  in  the  whole  world,  of  all  creeds  when  John  Wesley  went 
to  Oxford. 

The  Ano-lo  Saxons,  and  they  only,  have  kept  in  the  van 
of  the  world's  progress  during  the  recent  centuries.  Their 
supremacy  is  manifest  in  that  more  than  one-quarter  of  the 

*  In  the  U.  S.  In  the  World. 

1800- Methodist  Communicants 65.000  116,000 

1900 — Methodist  Communicants 6,437,461  7,659,006 


152  WESLEY  EX-CENTENARY. 

land  surface  of  the  globe  is  controlled  by  them,  one-third  of 
the  entire  population  of  the  earth  is  under  their  authority 
and  more  than  one-third  of  the  resources  and  capitalized 
wealth  of  the  world  belongs  to  them.  They  have  colonized 
in  every  continent,  they  occupy  the  strategic  points  of  the 
earth,  they  command  the  high-ways  of  the  oceans,  they  domi- 
nate the  world's  commerce,  they  transmit  the  world's  news, 
they  are  teaching  all  men  their  language  and  institutions, 
and  they  make  every  land  they  touch  the  realm  of  the  Bible 
and  the  Sunday  School. 

They  are  the  governmental  force  of  the  world,  not  only 
in  controlling  savages  and  directing  the  semi-civilized,  but 
among  the  most  advanced  nations  their  policies  are  respect- 
ed, they  give  direction  to  councils  and  determine  restrictions. 
Fiske  says,  "the  working  out  of  the  skilfully  elaborated 
American  system  of  federation — the  specific  principle  of  un- 
ion joined  with  independence — in  our  national  constitution 
by  Hamilton  and  Madison  and  their  associates,  was  the  finest 
specimen  of  constructive  statesmanship  that  the  world  has 
ever  seen." 

The  most  remarkable  fact  in  the  century  just  passed  is  the 
extent  to  which  the  world  has  become  in  thought,  habit  and 
ideal,  as  well  as  governmentally,  Anglo-Saxon.  But  the 
marvel  of  all  centuries  is  the  evolution  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
himself.  His  present  trend  is  a  long  call  from  his  earlier 
characteristics.  He  who  in  an  earlier  stage  was  exclusive 
and  predacious,  cruel,  indolent  and  disregardful  of  domestic 
vn'tue,  has  come  to  stand  for  personal  initiative,  construc- 
tive intelligence,  civic  righteousness  and  domestic  probity. 

All  movements  must  be  judged  by  their  tendency  as  all 
ideals" must  be  judged  by  that  which  inheres.  While  Anglo- 
Saxon  expansion  has  been  secured  ofttimes  by  cruelty  and 
rapacity  and  cannot  be  justified  even  when  compared  with 
others  of  their  age,  yet  the  tendency,  never  more  manifest 
than  in  public  sentiment  to-day,  is  towards  justice  tempered 
with  mercy.  "War  and  peace,  conquest,  trade  and  coloniza- 
tion have  each  had  a  share  in  the  extension  of  the  dominion 
of  the  race.  But  in  the  final  balance  the  enterprise  of  private 
individuals  will  be  reckoned  more  effective  than  those  of  the 
state."  These  enterprises  were  constructive  and  their  suc- 
cess had  its  rootage  in  solidarity. 

Of  the  five  states,  and  as  between  the  three  races  which 
competed  for  the  New  World,  and  indeed  for  the  world  su- 
premacy, success  has  not  fallen  to  that  one  which  showed 
at  the  outset  the  strongest  vocation  for  colonization,  nor  to 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  153 


the  one  which  surpassed  all  others  in  daring,  invention, 
energy,  or  the  ability  to  marshal  and  command  great  armies, 
but  to  that  one  which  responded  to  the  transforming  im- 
pulse of  the  Divine  life,  and  exceeded  in  moral  earnestness. 
While  there  are  marked  and  many  individual  exceptions,  as 
a  race,  in  ideal,  tradition  and  trend,  the  Anglo-Saxon  has 
been  Christianized  and  more  than  any  other  stands  for  puri- 
ty, progress  and  peace. 

If  the  coetaneous  rise  of  Methodism  and  Anglo-Saxon 
supremacy  were  simply  a  coincidence,  only  a  fact  passed 
and  expended,  still  it  would  be  worthy  of  our  study.  But 
if  the  past  is  prophetic  of  the  future,  if  history  is  not  only  a 
narration  of  facts  but  the  suggestion  of  problems,  if  "when 
you  study  English  history  you  study  not  the  past  of  England 
only,  but  her  future,"  and  if  the  coetaneous  rise  of  Metho- 
dism and  Anglo-Saxon  supremacy  were  consequential,  it  is 
a  fact  of  supreme  importance,  challenging  most  careful  con- 
sideration. 

Methodism  is  individualizing,  coordinating,  altruistic.  It 
deals  with  the  unit  and  correlates  him  with  the  whole.  It 
has  promoted  the  development  of  individuality,  personal 
initiative  and  organized  effort  by  coordinating  the  soul  with 
God.  It  has  raised  the  standard  and  fostered  personal  puri- 
ty, civic  righteousness,  official  justice  by  proclaiming  the  law 
of  the  Lord.  It  has  safe-guarded  and  elevated  the  sanctity 
of  the  home  and  everything  pertaining  to  childhood,  woman- 
hood and  manhood  in  their  mutual  relations  by  keeping 
Christ  in  the  midst.  The  awakening  and  development  of  the 
chief  Anglo-Saxon  characteristics,  the  prime  elements  of 
their  strength,  is  concentric  with  the  propaganda  and  quick- 
ening which  Methodism  brought  to  the  race. 

But  let  others  speak  concerning  the  constructive  and  de- 
termining influence  of  the  Methodist  movement  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  upon  Anglo-Saxon  development. 

Southey,  poet  laureate  of  England,  and  one  of  the  most 
severely  critical  of  his  biographers,  says,  "I  consider  Wes- 
ley as  the  most  influential  mind  of  the  last  century,  the  man 
who  will  have  produced  the  greatest  effects  centuries  or 
milleniums  hence,  if  the  present  race  of  men  shall  continue 
so  long.  There  may  come  a  time  when  the  name  of  Wes- 
ley will  be  more  generally  known  and  to  remoter  regions  of 
the  globe  than  that  of  Frederick  or  Catherine  his  contempo- 
raries, for  the  work  of  such  men  survive  them  and  continue 
to  operate  when  nothing  remains  of  worldly  ambition  but 
the  memory  of  its  vanity  and  its  guilt." 


154  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

The  English  editor  writes  in  the  "Review  of  Reviews," 
"Wesleyanism  has  acted  as  a  cement  of  the  English  speak- 
ing race  and  thereby  contributed  materially  towards  the  solu- 
tion of  the  supreme  political  problem  of  our  times.  Ths 
Wesley  brothers  who  founded  the  Methodist  polity  are  a 
more  living  force  to-day  constraining  the  minds  of  the  Eng- 
lish speaking  men  to  brotherly  feeling  and  a  sense  of  national 
unity,  than  the  Wellesleys,  although  the  Wellesleys  reared 
the  Indian  Empire  ind  crushed  the  Empire  of  Napolean." 

Green,  an  English  clergyman,  says,  in  his  discriminative 
"History  of  the  English  people,"  "The  Methodists  them- 
selves were  the  least  result  of  the  Methodist  Revival.  Its 
action  upon  the  Church  broke  the  lethargy  of  the  clergy  and 
made  the  fox-hunting  parson  and  absentee  rector  at  last  im- 
possible. In  the  nation  at  large  appeared  a  new  moral  en- 
thusiasm, healthy  in  its  social  tone,  and  whose  power  was 
seen  in  the  disappearance  of  the  profligacy  which  had  dis- 
graced the  upper  classes  and  the  foulness  which  had  infest- 
ed literature  ever  since  the  Revolution.  A  new  philanthropy 
reformed  our  prisons,  infused  clemency  and  wisdom  into  our 
penal  laws,  abolished  the  slave  trade,  and  gave  the  first  im- 
pulse to  popular  education."  Again,  "By  this  movement 
the  Church  was  restored  to  life  and  activity.  Religion  car- 
ried to  the  hearts  of  the  poor  a  fresh  spirit  of  moral  zeal, 
while  it  purified  our  literature  and  our  manners." 

Lecky,  though  no  friend  of  orthodox  Christianity,  gives  to 
Wesley  the  credit  of  averting  an  English  Revolution.  In  his 
"England  in  the  eighteenth  century,"  he  says,  "Although 
the  career  of  the  elder  Pitt  and  the  splendid  victories  by  land 
and  sea  that  were  won  during  his  ministry  form  unquestion- 
ably the  most  dazzling  episodes  in  the  reign  of  George  II, 
they  must  yield,  I  think,  in  real  importance  to  that  religious 
revolution  which  shortly  before  had  begun  in  England  by 
the  preaching  of  the  Wesleys  and  Whitefield.  The  creation 
of  a  large,  powerful  and  active  sect,  extending  over  both 
hemispheres  and  numbering  many  millions  of  souls,  was  but 
one  of  its  consequences.  It  also  exercises  a  profound  and 
lasting  influence  upon  the  spirit  of  the  Established  Church, 
upon  the  amount  and  distribution  of  the  moral  force  of  the 
nation,  and  even  upon  the  course  of  its  political  history." 
Again,  "Methodism  incalculably  increased  the  efficiency  of 
every  religious  body.  It  has  been  more  or  less  felt  in  every 
Protestant  community  speaking  the  English  language." 

Cardinal  Manning  said,  "Had  it  not  been  for  John  Wes- 
ley and  his  preaching  of  justification  by  faith,  no  man  could 


WESLEY  BT-CENTENARY.  155 

tell  to     what  depth     of  degredation   England   would  have 
sunk." 

Dr.  Martineau  the  Unitarian  divine,  theologian  and  phil- 
osopher, says,  "For  myself  I  own  that  the  literature  to  which 
I  turn  for  the  nurture  and  inspiration  of  Faith,  Hope  and 
Love  is  almost  exclusively  the  product  of  orthodox  versions 
of  the  Christian  religion."  "After  the  scriptures,  the  Wes- 
ley Hymn  Book  appears  to  me  the  greatest  instrument  of 
popular  religious  culture  that  Christendom  has  ever  pro- 
duced." 

The  incisive  and  vigorous  essayist,  Birrell,  says,  ''Wesley 
was  himself  the  greatest  force  of  the  eighteenth  century  in 
England.  No  man  lived  nearer  the  center  than  John  Wes- 
ley ;  neither  Pitt  nor  Clive,  neither  Mansfield,  nor  Johnson. 
No  single  figure  influenced  so  many  minds ;  no  single  voice 
touched  so  many  hearts ;  no  other  man  did  such  a  life  work 
for  England."  The  Encyclopedia  of  Social  Reform  says: 
"It  is  difficult  to  find  any  religious  or  social  enterprise  of  the 
Christian  Church  which  was  not  anticipated  by  Wesley." 
Canon  Farrar  says,  "John  Wesley  saved  the  Church  of 
England  from  lethargy  and  death,  although  at  first  she  so 
angrily  and  contemptuously  rejected  him.  He  stood  forth 
like  the  Hebrew  Prophets  of  old,  as  a  preacher  of  righteous- 
ness. He  furnished  'the  starting  point  for  our  modern  re- 
ligious history'  in  all  that  is  best  characteristic  of  the  present 
time.  He  discovered  that  'lost  secret  of  Christianity,  the 
compulsion  of  human  souls'." 

Dean  Stanley  says,  "The  Methodist  movement  has  mould- 
ed the  spiritual  character  of  the  English  speaking  Protestant- 
ism of  the  world." 

If  Christianity  throughout  the  world  is  conforming  more 
and  more  in  doctrine  and  method  to  those  emphasized  by 
the  Wesleyan  movement,  if  the  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  in 
its  essential  characteristics  is  approximating  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  ideals  it  set  forth  and  insisted  upon,  and  if  An- 
glo-Saxon influence  and  stability  are  in  alignment  with  the 
standards  of  personal  character,  civic  righteousness,  diffused 
education  and  organized  benevolence  which  Methodism  pro- 
claimed and  maintained,  how  shall  we  estimate  ?nd  in  what 
reverence  shall  we  hold  "John  Wesley,  the  most  English  man 
of  the  eighteenth  century  ?" 

As  our  Lord  said  in  the  first  century,  "Among  them  that 
?re  born  of  women  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater  than  John 
the  Baptist,"  so  it  might  be  said  in  the  opening-  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  of  John  Wesley.  None  has  made  more  valu- 


156  WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY. 

able  contributions  for  the  enrichment  of  human  well-being. 
What  Copurnicus  did  for  astronomy,  what  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton did  for  physics,  what  Lord  Bacon  did  for  philosophy, 
Wesley  did  for  religion.  He  coordinated  it  with  its  true 
center,  he  organized  its  various  manifestations,  formulating 
the  law  of  its  great  attractive  force-love,  he  remanded  every 
pretense  to  the  bar  of  experience  and  proclaimed  that  to  be 
the  unanswerable  demonstration.  He  exemplified  in  his  life 
the  power  and  beauty  of  a  personal  knowledge  of  God, 
"Whom  to  know  aright  is  life  everlasting,"  and  heralded  the 
experience  to  be  accessible  and  essential  to  every  man,  wom- 
an and  child  who  would  please  God. 

His  work  is  imperishable.  His  memory  should  be  ever 
green.  On  this  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  in 
this  fair  city  of  Savannah,  hallowed  by  his  residence,  minis- 
tries and  wrestlings  of  spirit,  memorable  as  the  scene  of  his 
humiliation,  where  he  became  convinced  that  austerities,  vi- 
gils and  works  are  inadequate  to  procure  peace — that  they 
are  but  results  and  not  the  cause  of  salvation — we  do  well  to 
i.iark  in  enduring  bronze  the  places  especially  associated 
with  his  sojourn  in  America,  as  a  memorial  for  the  genera- 
tions to  follow. 

But  above  all,  let  us  as  Anglo-Saxons  thank  God  for  the 
life  which  he  lived,  let  us  emulate  the  virtues  which  he  ex- 
emplified, let  us  contribute  to  the  extension  of  the  glory  of 
his  God  and  ours,  co-operating  personally,  heartily,  con- 
tinuously and  devotedlv,  according  to  our  ability;  with  tire 
onward  march  of  "Christianity  in  earnest." 

TABLETS  UNVEILED. 

At  the  close  of  the  address  the  ministers,  speakers  and 
members  of  special  committees  entered  carriages  as  follows : 

First  Carriage— Dr.  J.  F.  Goucher,  Rev.  Thos.  D.  Ellis, 
Judge  S.  B.  Adams  and  Mr.  J.  P.  Williams. 

Second  Carriage — Bishop  W.  A.  Candler,  Rev.  J.  A.  Smith, 
Col.  J.  R.  Saussy,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Fifer. 

Third  Carriage— Bishop  C.  B.  Galloway,  Rev.  C.  A.  Jack- 
son, Mr.  R.  J.  Travis  and  Mr.  H.  A.  Cordson. 

Fourth  Carriage— Hon.  J.  C.  C.  Black,  Rev.  H.  C.  Chris- 
tian, Mr.  J.  H.  Shuptrine  and  Mr.  R.  B.  Reppard. 

Fifth  Carriage— Rev.  Dr.  W.  W.  Pinson,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  M. 
Williams,  Mr.  T.  J.  Arline  and  Mr.  F.  C.  Stone. 

Sixth  Carriage — Hon.  DuPont  Guerry,  Senator  A.  O. 
Bacon,  Congressman  R.  E.  Lester,  and  Rev.  G.  G.  N.  Mc- 
Dpnell, 


Court  House  Tablet 


WESLEY  Bl-CENTENAKY.  159 


AT  THE  POSTOFFICE. 

The  carriages  started  off  slowly  and  the  great  majority  of 
the  people  who  had  been  in  Trinity  Church  followed  to  the 
United  States  postoffice.  Here,  on  the  west  end,  facing 
Whitaker  street,  the  first  of  the  tablets  was  seen,  covered 
with  the  combined  folds  of  the  flags  of  England  and  the 
United  States. 

Rev.  J.  A.  Smith,  pastor  of  Epworth  Church,  stepped  out 
on  the  sidewalk  and  near  the  tablet ;  his  little  daughter 
Beulah  Louise  took  the  cords  that  held  the  flags  together, 
and  Mr.  Smith  said :  "It  is  fitting  and  proper  that  this  city 
of  monuments  and  tablets  erected  to  commemorate  the  lives 
of  great  men  who  have  made  rich  this  city  in  the  things 
which  perish  not,  that  we  mark  a  few  of  the  places  of  a  man 
whose  memory  lives  in  the  love  and  veneration  of  the 
millions  who  follow  him  as  he  followed  Christ.  We  unveil 
to-day  on  this  spot  of  ground,  on  which  once  stood  the 
preaching  place  of  Mr.  Wesley,  this  tablet.  May  his  life 
and  the  lives  of  millions  of  his  followers  continue  to  be 
as  precious  ointment  poured  forth  in  all  the  earth." 

The  cords  were  then  drawn  and  the  bronze  was  revealed 
with  its  inscription. 


HliM  H«  MB  !•»  *»•  Mil  ll»  Ml  M<  W8  Itl 


JOHN  WESLEY 


ON  THIS  SPOT,  WHERE  STOOD  THE 

FIRST  PUBLIC  BUILDING  ERECTED  IN 

GEORGIA,  JOHN  WESLEY  PREACHED 

HIS  FIRST  SERMON  ON  AMERICAN  SOIL. 

MARCH  7,1736  (OS) 
TEXT- I  CORINTHIANS  Xllt 

THIS  TABLET  COMMEMORATES  THE   BI-CENTENARY 
OF  HIS  BIRTH, JUNE  2S.I903 


Custom  House  Tablet 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  163 


AT  THE  CUSTOM  HOUSE. 

The  procession  then  moved  to  the  United  States  Custom 
House,  at  the  corner  of  Bull  and  Bay  streets,  and  on  the 
west,  facing  Bull  street,  a  second  tablet  was  unveiled.  Here 
Rev.  Charles  A.  Jackson,  pastor  of  the  Grace  Church  said : 
"It  is  indeed  appropriate  that  the  government  of  these 
United  States  honor  a  citizen  like  John  Wesley  by  authoriz- 
ing a  tablet  on  this  public  building.  It  was  during  the  early 
days  of  the  colony,  when  pirates  smuggled  in  goods,  that  the 
man  whom  we  honor  taught  in  private  and  preached  in  pub- 
lic against  such  practices  and  impressed  upon  his  hearers 
the  necessity  for  obeying  the  laws."  As  his  remarks  were 
concluded  the  flags  were  withdrawn  by  little  Apphia  Jackson, 
his  daughter. 


If  L..OL.C,  I 

i  HE  FOUNDED  OF  METHODISM 

LIVED.  1736-1737;  ON  THIS  LOT 
'APART  BY  QGLETHORPE  ! 
JR;  A  PARSONAGE 

-»««•  it  *amt 

HERE  IN  APRIL  1736, 
ACCORDING  TO  HIS  RECORD 

SECOND  RISE  OF  METHODISM 


Parsonage  Lot  Tablet 


WESLEY  BI-CENTENARY.  167 


PARSONAGE  SITE. 

The  third  tablet  was  unveiled  at  the  corner  of  Congress 
and  Drayton  streets.  The  cords  were  pulled  by  little  Sarah 
Carson,  and  a  few  words  were  said  by  Rev.  Dr.  Christian, 
pastor  of  Wesley  Monumental  Church.  The  tablet  marked, 
•he  said,  the  place  where  Wesley  had  lived  while  in  Savannah 
and  this  city  could  not  do  better  than  in  honoring  her  most 
renowned  citizen. 

The  exercises  were  then  closed  with  the  singing  of  Dox- 
ology,  and  this  war  taken  up  by  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  large  crowd  that  had  gathered  in  addition  to  those  who 
came  from  the  church  service. 


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